Lot Essay
The inscription, Tao shu sui san qian, can be translated as 'Peaches need three thousand years to mature', a literary reference to the peach tree in the garden of Xiwangmu, the 'Royal Mother of the West'
For a discussion of the Suzhou school see Hugh Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, pp. 62-74. This bottle bears the characteristics of the finest of this group, including serrated and swirling rockwork, brilliant use of natural colors, technical perfection and gnarled pine
The foot of this example, as with many, is carved as an indentation to allow the bottle to stand upright
For a bottle of similar type see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, pp. 106-107, figs. 149-150; and for another, depicting a sage and attendant in a rocky grotto with pine, see John Gilmore Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, Catalogue, pp. 38-39, no. 45
For a discussion of the Suzhou school see Hugh Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, pp. 62-74. This bottle bears the characteristics of the finest of this group, including serrated and swirling rockwork, brilliant use of natural colors, technical perfection and gnarled pine
The foot of this example, as with many, is carved as an indentation to allow the bottle to stand upright
For a bottle of similar type see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, pp. 106-107, figs. 149-150; and for another, depicting a sage and attendant in a rocky grotto with pine, see John Gilmore Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, Catalogue, pp. 38-39, no. 45