Bronze tobacco bottle one of the two sides is shaped like a cup of tobacco it is signed by Cheng Rongzhang and dated from 1646 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Shunzhi first Emperor of the Qing dynasty - China 1830/1920

Literature: This famous bottle was long considered as one of the first bottle. It comes from the Stempel Collection and was featured in an exhibition in 1977
at the Hong Kong museum of art from 15 October to 16 November N°236p100 .
It is illustrated in the book of V. Jutheau the guide of the collector of snuffbottles Chinese p48 in full page recto then fig 1 p51
It was also exhibited at the Chaumet arcade place Vendome in very precious Chinese snuff box from 4 to 16 June 1982 N°255 p 19 illustration couleurs
I was astonished to see this bottle go on sale Millon Jutheau in April 1987. Unfortunately being at the beginning of my career I could not buy this bottle. During my conferences I always started by quoting this bottle with very advanced forms which made me think that it had been made later . Around 1996 during a trip to China with the International Chinese Snuff Bottle society we learned from a Chinese curator that these bronze bottles of Cheng Rongzhan would have been manufactured in the 19th century which convinced me . Today the great merchant and researcher Hugh Moss dates those of the famous Bloch collection between 1830 and 1920. There remains for me a bottle of legend that was most sought after by our former great collectors like Lilla Perry or Bob Stevens .