A Chinese carved aquamarine snuff bottle, an amber lion-form seal, and an amber snuff bottle Qing Dynasty

The lion carved in openwork atop a foliate-decorated pedestal; the amber snuff bottle carved in low relief with a sage and boys; the quartz bottle finely carved with openwork with peonies and birds, with an associated carved wood stand; together with a small Chinese carved wood mountain with sages and pavilions (4).

Provenance: Property formerly in the Collection of Eldridge Reeves Fenimore Johnson (1899-1986)
Thence by descent in the family.

NOTE: E. R. F. Johnson was a noted explorer, yachtsman and researcher. He was a pioneer in the development of underwater photography and had close ties with the University of Pennsylvania, where a collection of his photographs are preserved. His father was Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), the founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA. It is very possible these may have been originally acquired by the elder E. R. Johnson, given that he gave Chinese works of art to the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1920 and 1927, including the large crystal ball said to have belonged to the Dowager Empress Cixi, the pair of carved stone reliefs of the favorite horses of the Tang Emperor Taizong, and numerous jade and coral carvings.