Page 114 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

234 235
AN INSCRIBED CHALCEDONY ‘SU WU’ SNUFF 清十八 / 十九世紀 蘇作瑪瑙巧雕蘇武牧羊 TWO CARVED AND INSCRIBED COCONUT 清 椰殼刻字鼻煙壺兩件
BOTTLE, SUZHOU, SCHOOL OF ZHITING, QING 圖鼻煙壺 SHELL SNUFF BOTTLES, QING DYNASTY
DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY
(2) 展覽：
stopper (2) 題識： Height of taller 2½ in., 6.2 cm 《壺趣集慶：中國鼻煙壺展》，徐氏藝術館，香
Height 2¼ in., 5.8 cm
海上放羊十九年 港，1996年，編號331
EXHIBITED
EXHIBITED A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs: An Exhibition of
Heavenly Creations, University Museum and Art Gallery, The 展覽： Chinese Snuff Bottles, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, 出版：
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 246. 《天地造化》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2005 cat. no. 331. 許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff
年，編號246 bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香
LITERATURE LITERATURE 港，2013年，圖版331及332
Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles 出版： Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff
Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 263.
許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013,
The present bottle is a masterpiece of Suzhou agate snuff bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香 pls 331 and 332.
bottles. Created by a highly imaginative and skilled carver, 港，2013年，圖版263 The first bottle, signed by Ju Min in 1820, is carved with an
the abstract inclusions of variant tones of dark and lighter eight-character inscription in archaic script. The second
brown have been intricately incorporated into a lively exterior bottle features lily flowers meticulously incised on its face
scene depicting Su Wu tending two sheep beneath a pine and an inscription etched onto its reverse. See a similar snuff
tree, the reverse with sheep, lingzhi and clouds. bottle sold in these rooms from the Joe Grimberg Collection,
The inscription reads haishang fangyang shijiu nian, which 14th September 2010, lot 2.
translates as ‘tending sheep in Beihai for nineteen years’. ⊖ $ 3,000-5,000
Su Wu was an official of the Western Han dynasty, who was
kept captive by the Xiongnu after leading a peace delegation
there. The present bottle depicts his life there.
There is a broad range of Suzhou agate bottles, but one
of the distinguishing characteristics of the Zhiting School
bottles is the serrated style of rocks, which is clearly visible
in the present lot. Zhiting is the name of a Suzhou artist, who
signed his name to works at some time during the early to
mid-eighteenth century. The school worked in jade, agate
and crystal. For other examples, see two from the Mary
and George Bloch Collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms,
the first carved with a man picking lingzhi, sold 27th May
2013, lot 128, the second carved with a scholar and horse,
sold 25th May 2014, lot 1094. See also another inscribed
Suzhou agate snuff bottle sold in our Hong Kong rooms,
9th February 2021, lot 3050.

⊖ $ 10,000-15,000

224 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11410 SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE CHRISTOPHER SIN COLLECTION 225