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Lot Essay
The town of Suzhou, famous for its gardens and canals, was also one of the main cultural centers in China, attracting many painters, calligraphers, poets, musicians and other talented individuals. Their pursuits and interests form the main subject matter of the group of acclaimed snuff bottles intricately carved from agate and jade in a style unique to the workshop associated with Zhiting from the area.
There are many masterpieces of the Zhiting school, but few are more impressive than this example. A tour de force of hard-stone carving, it is carved from the black, grey and white nephrite so beloved of the school providing a spectacular canvas for the imaginative carver. Every nuance of color has been used with considerable imagination and to great effect. Particularly noteworthy are the different planes of color used to accentuate beards, hair and hat of the three figures and the subtle use of the pale grey streak on the reverse to create the tumbling brook.
Depicted here are the Four Noble Pofessions: scholar, farmer, fisherman and woodcutter. The elevation of the scholar above the manual laborers here may imply a hierarchical statement, as he stands beneath the moon contemplating lofty thoughts while the workers toil at the base of the bottle.
Very few jade carvings attributed to Suzhou are inscribed with a signature, and in this case, only the given name has been provided, and can either be that of the carver or that of the poet who wrote the lines inspiring the subject. Even rarer is the collector's seal reading 'Yuanzhen' which has been impressed in red on paper and glued to the foot of the bottle. Such seals are commonly added to paintings and calligraphy, but this is one of the few known instances where such a seal has been added to a snuff bottle.
For other Suzhou black and white jade bottles, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, p. 100, nos. 160 and 162; and L. S. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, p. 104, nos. 85 and 87. Three more black and white jade bottles from the same school are illustrated by R. Kleiner, Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Denis Low, nos. 42-4. A small black and white example from the McReynolds Collection is illustrated by B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, no. 44, and an example in The Victoria and Albert Museum is illustrated by H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, pl. 3. See, also, six further black and white examples illustrated by H. Moss, V. Graham, K. B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, nos. 126-31.
There are many masterpieces of the Zhiting school, but few are more impressive than this example. A tour de force of hard-stone carving, it is carved from the black, grey and white nephrite so beloved of the school providing a spectacular canvas for the imaginative carver. Every nuance of color has been used with considerable imagination and to great effect. Particularly noteworthy are the different planes of color used to accentuate beards, hair and hat of the three figures and the subtle use of the pale grey streak on the reverse to create the tumbling brook.
Depicted here are the Four Noble Pofessions: scholar, farmer, fisherman and woodcutter. The elevation of the scholar above the manual laborers here may imply a hierarchical statement, as he stands beneath the moon contemplating lofty thoughts while the workers toil at the base of the bottle.
Very few jade carvings attributed to Suzhou are inscribed with a signature, and in this case, only the given name has been provided, and can either be that of the carver or that of the poet who wrote the lines inspiring the subject. Even rarer is the collector's seal reading 'Yuanzhen' which has been impressed in red on paper and glued to the foot of the bottle. Such seals are commonly added to paintings and calligraphy, but this is one of the few known instances where such a seal has been added to a snuff bottle.
For other Suzhou black and white jade bottles, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, p. 100, nos. 160 and 162; and L. S. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, p. 104, nos. 85 and 87. Three more black and white jade bottles from the same school are illustrated by R. Kleiner, Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Denis Low, nos. 42-4. A small black and white example from the McReynolds Collection is illustrated by B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, no. 44, and an example in The Victoria and Albert Museum is illustrated by H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, pl. 3. See, also, six further black and white examples illustrated by H. Moss, V. Graham, K. B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, nos. 126-31.