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Lot Essay
Spinach-green nephrite has been found in boulder form in the riverbeds of Turkestan for centuries, mostly of a subdued color with some darker flecking. During the mid-Qing period, with the conquest of the area in 1759 and its renaming as a province of China (Xinjiang), mined material was also available to the court in much greater quantities. The mined material is characterized by a darker, more evenly green color with more pronounced, darker speckling. See Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 1, Jade, no. 72 for a discussion on the sources of the material.
The crystal bottle is one of a group of carved crystal and amethyst bottles with a distinctive style of carving. Moss, Graham and Tsang illustrate a quartz example they attribute to a source they name the "School of the Rustic Crystal Master," in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, no. 254. For a broad survey, see H. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, pp. 23-34; and L. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, no. 30.
The "Rustic Crystal Master" school may have been located in Fujian province, where crystal was carved as early as the beginning of the 18th century. Fujian was famous for its raw quartzite, so it was a natural departure for the local artisans to meet the challenge of carving it. Typically, the bottles are worked in low relief with a continuous landscape made up of a series of elements rendered in a painterly style. See Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, nos. 255-57 for other examples.
The crystal bottle is one of a group of carved crystal and amethyst bottles with a distinctive style of carving. Moss, Graham and Tsang illustrate a quartz example they attribute to a source they name the "School of the Rustic Crystal Master," in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, no. 254. For a broad survey, see H. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, pp. 23-34; and L. Perry, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, no. 30.
The "Rustic Crystal Master" school may have been located in Fujian province, where crystal was carved as early as the beginning of the 18th century. Fujian was famous for its raw quartzite, so it was a natural departure for the local artisans to meet the challenge of carving it. Typically, the bottles are worked in low relief with a continuous landscape made up of a series of elements rendered in a painterly style. See Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, nos. 255-57 for other examples.