A FINE AND VERY RARE RUSSET-BROWN AND OLIVE-GREEN JADE SNUFF BOTTLE

Details

A FINE AND VERY RARE RUSSET-BROWN AND OLIVE-GREEN JADE SNUFF BOTTLE
XIAOXIA, MASTER OF THE ROCKS SCHOOL, 1740-1840

Ingeniusly carved on one main side utilizing the russet-brown and ochre colours of the skin with a scholar in a boat playing the qin in a gorge with a large pine tree growing from a rocky shore, with a woodcutter leaning on his bundle of sticks on a rocky promontory looking down on the scholar and listening, the reverse uncarved and of predominantly olive-green tone, a patch of russet skin confined to the base and incised in draft script with an inscription that can be translated, 'How vast this ambition high up in the mountains! How great that ambition floating on the waves,' followed by 'Made by Xiaoxia for Youyu,' the foot inscribed in seal script within a rectangular cartouche with the four-character studio name Cunxin Shuwu, 'The House for the Devotion of Books', stopper
2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm.) high

Provenance

A Private Canadian Collection
Sotheby's New York, 22 March 2000, lot 228
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

Exhibited

The J & J Collection, Part II: A Selection of Unpublished Snuff Bottles, Christie's Los Angeles, 2003

Lot Essay

It is extremely rare to find Master of the Rocks works with inscriptions of this sort and with the name of the maker added. Unfortunately, the first character of the Studio name awaits identification, making it impossible to look up in the standard dictionaries to check if it is recorded as having belonged to any particular literatus. Quite apart from the rarity of the inscription, and the identity of the two individuals involved, the carving is superb, with extraordinary subtle use of the two tones of skin to create a partial cameo, which adds to the richly varied skin colouring to give great depth to the otherwise very shallow carving.

More from IMPORTANT CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE J&J COLLECTION

View All