Snuff bottle, white jade carved with a scene which depicts an extended pavillion in the moonlight; spreading branches of trees droop over the pavillion. rose quartz top; gold stand.

Snuff Bottle, 1750-1850

Unknown artist, Chinaexpand_more

Jade, rose quartzexpand_more

Gift of Mrs. Augustus L. Searleexpand_more  36.6.2a-c

On View in Gallery 216expand_more

Beneath a crescent moon, a woman sits at the bow of a fisherman’s boat in a river, playing a stringed instrument called a pipa. The scene comes from a famous Chinese narrative poem called “The Song of the Pipa Player,” composed by the poet Bai Juyi in 816 CE. In the poem, a man encounters this pipa player and expresses the sadness he feels when he hears her play her melancholy song. The bottle’s creamy white color is reminiscent of the moonlight mentioned in the poem:

We drank with depressed heart,
Seeing my friends off while the moonlight bathed in the river.
Suddenly the pipa sounds drifting to our ears from a neighboring boat,
My guests forgot to leave and I knew not where we were.

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Details
Title
Snuff Bottle
Role
Artist
Accession Number
36.6.2a-c
Curator Approved

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Snuff bottle, white jade carved with a scene which depicts an extended pavillion in the moonlight; spreading branches of trees droop over the pavillion. rose quartz top; gold stand.

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