1780-1880

Jet is a tough, compact black form of lignite, or brown coal, and is produced by vegetative decomposition and fossilization. It is lightweight and takes a very high surface polish. It is also soft enough to carve directly with a metal blade, bringing it within the range of possible materials for the scholar-carver to express his own artistry with the "iron-brush" of the seal-carver. Jet was also an appealing material because of its association with longevity, since one popular Chinese misconception was that it took amber a thousand years to form, and that after thousands more amber became jet.
Jet bottles exhibiting such fine carving are extremely rare, and the present bottle certainly ranks highly among them. The scenes depicted here, women and children of the cultured elite, were popular throughout the Qing period. As on another masterly jet bottle in the J & J Collection, illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, no. 90, the scenes shown here may be literati paintings translated by a trained hand onto jet. The scene is likely intended to be read as continuous, with the elegantly robed young woman, shown sitting on a natural seat made of an ornamental rock formation, whiling away the time in reverie, while the two children she is in charge of play with fish in an enormous garden fish-bowl.