O8 A “pebble” amber snuff bottle

Description

Description:  Chinese dark brown amber snuff bottle of pebble form.

Foot/base:  Small flat base

Mark:  

Dating:  18^th / 19^th Century.

Material:  Amber

Size:  54 mm long

Stopper:  Agate of celadon color with bamboo spoon.

Provenance:  Antiquarian market

References:   See a similar bottle sold by Sotheby’s, last picture

Notes:  Amber is the fossilized resin of some trees. To be real amber, it must be at least 10 million years old. If younger than that, the hardening process is not complete and, in that case, the proper name of this younger fossilized resin is Copal. Amber can be either found at sea or in mines.

According to Greek mythology, the Heliades were the daughters of Helios (the Sun) and Clymene, an Oceanid nymph. Their brother, Phaëthon, died after attempting to drive his father’s chariot across the sky. He was unable to control the horses and fell to his death. The Heliades grieved for four months and the gods turned them into poplar trees and their tears into amber. Instead, in Chinese mythology amber transforms from the tears of a tiger as it breathes its last breath. Since ancient times, Chinese have called this organic gem “hu po” which means the courage or spirit of the tiger. There are tales about tigers whose souls enter the earth and become amber. Li Shizhen, Ming Dynasty physician and the author of the “Compendium of Materia Medica” (“Bencao Gangmu”) wrote that amber came from “the soul of a tiger descended to earth.”