MASTER OF THE ROCKS SCHOOL, 1740-1840

The material favoured by the Master of the Rocks school was referred to by Zhao Zhiqian in the late Qing period as "yellow steamed-chestnut" and to modern collectors as "han" jade. There seems to have been one workshop specialising in carvings from this distinctive material, known as the Master of the Rocks School. The subject-matter of the school included landscape scenes, human figures and those carved with chilong which may have been partly produced for the Court. A pear-shaped nephrite bottle with chilong carved on the narrow sides is illustrated in Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles, The White Wings Collection, Hong Kong, 1997, pp. 40, no. 20. Another unusual example from this school carved with chilong on either side, from the Meriem Collection, was sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2007, lot 669. Another bottle carved using this distinctive style and pebble material, from the Hildegard Schonfeld Collection, was also sold at Christie's New York, March 2013, lot 1076.