7 cm. （2 3/4 in.） high

The present snuff bottle is exceptionally rare and little is known about the artist, Lin Yuan. However, another closely related soapstone snuff bottle, dated to 1780-1880, with soapstone and mother-of-pearl inlay also decorated with boys at play and bearing a Lin Yuan mark, is in the Marquess of Exeter’s Burghley House Collection, illustrated by H. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of the Rt. Hon. The Marquess of Exeter, K.C.M.G, London, 1974, pp. 150-151, pl. M.5.

The present bottle was once in the collection of the famed collection of Hon. Mrs. Nellie Ionides （1883-1962） who was the daughter of the 1st Viscount Bearsted, Lord Mayor of London. Her family established Shell Transport, later to become Shell Oil. Generous philanthropists and great art lovers, Nellie Ionides and her husband Basil were generous in the donations to many museums including a major bequest of porcelain to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Provenance：
Collection of The Hon. Mrs. Nellie Ionides （1883-1962）
The D.A. Ionides Will Trust
Christie’s London, 11-13 June, 1990, lot 521（Part Lot）
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 May 1994, lot 1360
An Asian Private Collection of Snuff Bottles

Price estimate:
HKD: 50, 000 - 70, 000
USD: 6, 400 - 9, 000

Auction Result:
HKD: 200,600