


A white and russet jade 'cicada' snuff bottle 18th century
£3,000 - £5,000
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Chinese Art (US)

Chinese Art (HK)

Asaph Hyman
Global Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

Dessa Goddard
Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group

Colin Sheaf
Consultant
Shipping (UK)

Rachel Hyman
Department Director

Asian Art (AUS)
A white and russet jade 'cicada' snuff bottle
Expertly hollowed as a cicada with carapace and folded wings crisply incised, the underside with two pomegranates borne on gnarled branches, the abdomen carved with notched ridges, the stone of pale white tone with caramel-brown patches.
6.6cm (2 5/8in) long.
Footnotes
十八世紀 白玉帶皮蟬形鼻煙壺
Provenence: an English private collection, and thence by descent
來源:英國私人收藏,並由後人保存迄今
The cicada has many auspicious meanings. Traditionally they were considered pure because they were thought to subsist on dew and lofty because of their perch in high treetops. Cicadas were also symbols of resurrection due to its fascinating life cycle. Newly hatched insects drop from branches to burrow into the ground, where they nourish themselves on tree roots for as long as seventeen years before emerging into the sunlight. Then, they climb high into the trees, and their outer skin splits open to allow the full-grown insects to appear. This process was seen as an analogy for the spirits of the dead rising on a path to eternal existence in a transcendent realm.