There are a variety of stones that will float in water such as jade,
quartz, chalcedony and hair crystal. If you find this comment hard to
believe, then you obviously have never been interested in collecting
fine antique Chinese snuff bottles!
There are some wonderful shapes and colours to be found and even more
amazing, some of these Chinese snuff bottles have images, or pictures,
formed from the natural inclusions found in the rock.
When studying auction catalogues one will now and then come across,
within the description of antique stone bottles, the comment 'well
hollowed' just as when discussing bottles with a dealer this term
will also be used. When this comment is missed beware, as all good
antique stone bottles should be 'well hollowed' and if they are not
then suspect they are fakes!
Antique Chinese snuff bottles were made to be used and had to be well
hollowed, to hold sufficient snuff, this raises the question how well
hollowed is 'well hollowed'? Most good antique bottles are
considered well hollowed if the bottle will hold a good ****tion of
snuff and does not feel too heavy. Remember, as a guide, they were
often worn in the sleeve. But the most valuable finest stone snuff
bottles are exceptionally hollowed out, so much so, that they often
look like they have been blown (like glass). These are referred to as
'eggshell thin' or 'floaters' because although they were carved
out of a rock they are so well hollowed, that they will float in water!
These stone bottles are examples of amazing skill, because all the
hollowing out has been performed through a very small hole in the neck
of the bottle. Even the areas we refer to as the shoulders of the
bottle (these are most difficult areas to hollow out), have to be very
thin, for the bottle to trap enough air to make it float.
There are some wonderful jade bottles that float, yet jade is one of
the hardest stone to carve, not only is it an exceptionally hard
material but it also has certain weaker points where it can easily
fracture.
Having shown a couple of bottles (one well hollowed, the other not) to
lapidary workers, equipped with all the most modern cutting and
drilling tools, to find out if they could change the poorly hollowed
out bottle, into a well hollowed one and what it would cost. Not one
would take on the task and the general view was, that even if they
tried, the cost would be considerable, due to the time it would take
them, but in addition no one would accept the risk involved, of
possibly ruining the bottle in the process!
The explanation of how these antique stone bottles were originally
carved and so well hollowed out, were all down to years of experience
and the slow labour of love, where the carver did everything by hand
without any thought about how much time it took.
The author has been a very keen collector for many years helping to
create 'The Cohen collection'.
See more information on Asian antiques (and photographs) by using the
following link: -
http://www.jncohen.net/antiques/articles.htm
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