SCHOOL OF ZHITING, SUZHOU, 1750-1850

Details

A WELL-CARVED AGATE SNUFF BOTTLE
SCHOOL OF ZHITING, SUZHOU, 1750-1850
The ovoid bottle is cleverly carved through dark brown and opaque white areas of the pale grey stone on one side with a scholar seated on the edge of a large rock with nearby prunus blossoms with an attendant approaching with a jar of wine, and with two piebald horses, one recumbent beneath a prunus tree, on the other side.
2 1/8 in. (5.3 cm.) high, jadeite stopper

Provenance

Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 1994.

Special notice

Items which contain rubies or jadeite originating in Burma (Myanmar) may not be imported into the U.S. As a convenience to our bidders, we have marked these lots with Y. Please be advised that a purchaser¹s inability to import any such item into the U.S. or any other country shall not constitute grounds for non-payment or cancellation of the sale. With respect to items that contain any other types of gemstones originating in Burma (e.g., sapphires), such items may be imported into the U.S., provided that the gemstones have been mounted or incorporated into jewellery outside of Burma and provided that the setting is not of a temporary nature (e.g., a string).

Sale room notice

Items which are made of, or contain, rubies or jadeite originating in Burma (Myanmar) may not be imported into the U.S. As a convenience to our bidders, lots which contain rubies or jadeite of Burmese origin or of indeterminate origin have been marked with ?.

Lot Essay

Zhiting, for whom the school was named, was one of the few hardstone carvers of the Qing dynasty, known for his jade works, who signed his wares with the intention of establishing an artistic identity. The first of these artists to do so was Lu Zigang, who probably inspired Zhiting, although the former worked two centuries earlier. Extant signed works by Zhiting are all small, being either pendants or snuff bottles, and a similar style of carving links the jade and quartz pendants to the snuff bottles.

The name "Zhiting School" has been applied to this particular group of carvings from Suzhou. For a discussion on the Zhiting School, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Volume 2, Part 2, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 504-9, no. 366. Also see ibid., Volume 1, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 122, pp. 304-307, for a signed Zhiting jade bottle and a discussion of the other jade examples signed by the master carver.

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