Bottle ID: 174

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WHITE, WITH BLACK POT

Date: 1750-1820

Height: 62 mm

Nephrite, very well hollowed, of even white tone with a grayish-black inclusion, of flattened ovoid form, carved in low relief with on one side a rocky mountainous landscape scene of a sage holding a fly whisk, seated outdoors under a pine tree, on a rush mat before a vessel from which a vapor floats, his attendant waiting behind him; the reverse with a deer prancing between two massive rocks under pine; a raised seven character inscription carved on the rock surface reading "the formula for the elixir of life is in sitting itself" followed by two seals "Zhi Ting".

Attributed to the Suzhou School.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 112
Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, 1976, p.116, no. 391.
White, Helen. Snuff Bottles from China: The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, 1992, p. 19, plate 2, no. 1.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 290-293, no. 117.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Christie's, New York, June 3, 1993, lot 328

The Suzhou School of carving is particularly recognizable by the manner in which its subject matter is treated. Example after example in jade or chalcedony portrays naturalistic landscape or riverscape scenes, either on one side or continuously around the bottle. The commercial jade carvers were a step away from the Emperor Qianlong's influence and the strictures of archaic imperialism, like the Yangzhou School glass carvers they produced items commercially for their wealthy patrons, using designs taken from their immediate environment. Whilst the merchant might aspire to emulate the scholar, he would have had little knowledge of court life and its imposing surroundings. Thus it remained with the carver to bring life and movement to these stones through their depiction of scholars, fishermen, pine beneath clouds, waterfalls and rivers, fantastically archaic rockwork and the flora and fauna of China.

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