Lot Essay
This bottle is a masterpiece from the Rustic Crystal Master School, displaying a rich, strong purple material, delightful subject and masterly control over the medium. This is a typical decorative scheme for the school, where a high-relief subject on one side is balanced by a low-relief landscape on the reverse.
The subject is drawn from the literati tradition of painting, where a wandering sage or scholar pauses on a bridge to delight in the solitary joys of the countryside in an idealized landscape. Noteworthy is the manner in which the figure stands in what appears to be a circle of light, giving it greater presence than size alone would allow.
For an imposing bottle by the Rustic Crystal Master with high relief on one side and low relief on the other, see L. S. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, p. 58, no. 30. For a discussion of the school, see H. Moss, V. Graham, K. B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Quartz, nos. 254-57.
The subject is drawn from the literati tradition of painting, where a wandering sage or scholar pauses on a bridge to delight in the solitary joys of the countryside in an idealized landscape. Noteworthy is the manner in which the figure stands in what appears to be a circle of light, giving it greater presence than size alone would allow.
For an imposing bottle by the Rustic Crystal Master with high relief on one side and low relief on the other, see L. S. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, p. 58, no. 30. For a discussion of the school, see H. Moss, V. Graham, K. B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Quartz, nos. 254-57.