A RARE COCONUT BOTTLE1810-1900, signed by Xu Youshi Ofpressed oval shape with convex main sides joined by small dowels along the narrow edges, carved with leaves trailing down the narrow sides and with a twenty-character inscription followed by the signature on one main face and with incised prunus blossom on the other, below a simple soft-metal petal-form collar at the opening; stopper. 2 3/8in (6cm) high 1810-1900 椰殼梅花紋刻銘鼻烟壺 《許友石》款 Provenance: Robert C. Eldred, 23 August 1989, lot 292 Literature: Hugh Moss and Stuart Sargent, ICSBS Journal , Autumn 2014, pp.8-9, fig. 59 Exhibited: International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 42 In the ICSBS Journal , Autumn 2014, pp.8-9, fig. 59, in an article entitled 'Coconut Shell Snuff Bottles, Part II', the authors illustrate both sides of this bottle and describe the calligraphy as probably representing a couplet of two seven-syllable lines, though with difficulty identifying some of the characters. This is followed by a dedication to the third elder Yeru. For other signed coconut bottles variously dated to the nineteenth century see, , Hong Kong, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Part I, 28 May 2010, lot 66, dated 1875 (or 1815) and , New York, 17 March 2014, lot 8014.