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Lot Essay
The inscription from a famous poem 'Night Mooring at Maple Bridge' by the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji reads:
Gu su cheng wai han shan si
Ye ban zhong sheng dao ke chuan
This can be translated as:
'Han Shan (Cold Mountain) Temple outside of Gu Su city (Suzhou)
The songs of the bell arrive at the guests' boat at midnight.'
Cold Mountain Temple is situated in the western suburbs of the modern garden city of Suzhou. It is said to have gained its name from the legend that the crazy poet monk, Han Shan, once lived there. For further discussion of this famous poem see Greg Whincup, The Heart of Chinese Poetry, New York, 1987, p. 145-147.
For another similarly shaped bottle carved with the 'Three Friends', pine, bamboo and prunus, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Monkey, 1993, p. 465, no. 278.
Another similarly shaped bottle catalogued as a brown nut bottle and carved with birds amidst pine branches was sold at Christie's, London, 9 October, 1972, lot 183.
For two similarly shaped coconut bottles of differing design see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles, London, 1987, pp. 20-21, no. 7 and 8.
Gu su cheng wai han shan si
Ye ban zhong sheng dao ke chuan
This can be translated as:
'Han Shan (Cold Mountain) Temple outside of Gu Su city (Suzhou)
The songs of the bell arrive at the guests' boat at midnight.'
Cold Mountain Temple is situated in the western suburbs of the modern garden city of Suzhou. It is said to have gained its name from the legend that the crazy poet monk, Han Shan, once lived there. For further discussion of this famous poem see Greg Whincup, The Heart of Chinese Poetry, New York, 1987, p. 145-147.
For another similarly shaped bottle carved with the 'Three Friends', pine, bamboo and prunus, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Monkey, 1993, p. 465, no. 278.
Another similarly shaped bottle catalogued as a brown nut bottle and carved with birds amidst pine branches was sold at Christie's, London, 9 October, 1972, lot 183.
For two similarly shaped coconut bottles of differing design see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles, London, 1987, pp. 20-21, no. 7 and 8.