MASTER OF THE ROCKS SCHOOL, 1740-1840

The material favored 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 specializing in carvings from this distinctive material, known as the Master of the Rocks School. Its main output was of bottles in this material carved with landscape designs, but many other subjects are recorded, including a few with chi dragon designs which may have been partly produced for the Court. A pear-shaped nephrite bottle with chi dragon carved on either side is illustrated in Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 1, Jade, Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 370-371, no. 142, where the chi dragon theme of the school is discussed. Another unusual example from this school carved with chi dragons on either side, from the Meriem Collection, was sold in these rooms, 19 September 2007, lot 669.