AN APPLE-GREEN JADEITE SNUFF BOTTLE, 1718-1860China. Well hollowed, of flattened globular form with tapering foot, surmounted by a straight cylindrical neck with concave top. The translucent stone dramatically patterned with areas of icy white, opaque green, and brilliant emerald-green tone.Provenance: Ago von Maltzan, acquired in Beijing between 1912 and 1916, and thence by descent within the same family. A collector’s number ‘18’ to the base. Adolf Georg Otto “Ago” von Maltzan, Freiherr zu Wartenberg und Penzlin (1877-1927), was a preeminent German diplomat of the Weimar Republic, who served in Beijing between 1912 and 1916, after posts in Kristiania (1909), St. Petersburg (1911), and Rio de Janeiro (1907). As the Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he was a signatory of the Treaty of Rapallo (1922) between Germany and Soviet Russia, under which both countries renounced all territorial and financial claims against each other and opened friendly diplomatic relations. From 1924, he served as Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. The Vossische Zeitung, a nationally known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class and was generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record, described Maltzan as the mostpetent diplomat that Germany ever had.Condition: Very good condition with minor nibbling. The stone with natural fissures, some of which may have developed into thin hairline cracks over time. The stopper with a smoothened chip, the gilt-copper collar with light wear, small nicks, and minuscule losses.Stopper: Tourmaline with gilt-copper collar, good tortoiseshell spoonWeight: 66.9 gDimensions: Height including stopper 53 mm. Diameter neck 17 mm and mouth 6 mm.Jadeitees from a remote part of Burma and first became a readily available material probably between 1784 and 1800 when relations between Burma and China improved with the opening up of regular trade. It is likely that bottles such as this example represent the earliest popular use of jadeite in China. With the imperially inspired snuff-bottle craze at its height during the late eighteenth century, there can be no question that a striking new material arriving on the scene would promptly be carved into bottles. Porcelain bottles made to imitate jadeite during the Daoguang period attest to its well-established popularity.Auction resultparison:Type: RelatedAuction: Sotheby’s New York, 27 September 2022, lot 780Price: USD 8,820 or approx.EUR 8,200 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A jadeite snuff bottle, Qing dynasty, 19th centuryExpert remark:pare the related form, color, and texture of the stone, and size (54 mm).Auction resultparison:Type: RelatedAuction: Christie’s New York, 19 September 2013, lot 1240Price: USD 10,000 or approx.EUR 11,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at