A FINE SUZHOU WHITE AND BLACK JADE BOTTLE

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

Details

A FINE SUZHOU WHITE AND BLACK JADE BOTTLE
1780-1850

Of rounded rectangular shape, carved in shallow relief from the predominantly white stone with a scholar seated amidst rockwork on a rush mat beneath pine and holding a fly whisk, before him a vessel carved from a black inclusion issuing vapor, a young attendant nearby, one large rock face carved with a seven-character inscription and two seals, stopper

Lot Essay

The inscription can be translated as "The formula for the elixir of life is in sitting itself"

For another Suzhou bottle, also using a black inclusion on one face, see Sotheby's, Honolulu, Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Bob C. Stevens, Part I, November 7, 1981, lot 116 and also illustrated by Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, col. pl. 391. For another Suzhou bottle depicting a seated sage or scholar see Helen White, Chinese Bottles from China, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, 1992, col. pl. 2, no. 1