Page 52 - March 15 2017 The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection

(two views)

•368 This bottle is typical of the Master of the Rocks School, featuring
A VERY RARE AND UNUSUAL BLACK AND GREENISH- the popular subject matter of the Four Professions (represented
GREY JADE SNUFF BOTTLE here by two of them - a common practice with this School) and
MASTER OF THE ROCKS SCHOOL, 1740-1840 characteristic carving of rocks and trees. It is noteworthy for the
integral snuf dish formed on one side, which is very rare for the
Of well-hollowed, fattened form, the bottle is carved through School, as well as the even, rich black tone. Although unlikely as
the opaque black area on one main side with a woodcutter and a natural color, the black permeates well into the stone. Black
a fsherman with his catch-basket beside him, the two fgures jade was highly sought after, and this example is one of the most
representing two of the Four Noble Professions, all within a rocky intense in color. However, staining was a standard option for the
landscape beneath a pine tree and beside a tall, crag-like rock post-Song jade carver, and one frequently used, either to create or
formation, the other side of mottled greyish-green color is carved enhance a pebble-skin, or to suggest the highly valued black jade
with a raised, rounded rectangular panel with a concave depression of the ancients.
to form an integral snuf dish.
For two examples of yellowish-green and russet-brown jade snuf
2Ω in. (6.4 cm.) high, tourmaline stopper bottles from the Master of the Rocks School carved on the darker
side with a scene, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese
$8,000-10,000 Snuf Bottles, Vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 358-61, nos. 138
and 139.
PROVENANCE
1740-1840年 玉雕漁樵圖鼻煙壺
George Tcheng Collection., Taipei.
Christie’s Hong Kong, 4 November 1995, lot 1266.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.
J & J Collection; Christies’ New York, 17 September 2008, lot 50.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2009.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts,
no. 5003.

50 THE RUTH AND CARL BARRON COLLECTION OF FINE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES: PART IV