Page 12 - The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part I

204 (another view)
A DARK RUSSET-BROWN AND OLIVE-GREEN JADE SNUFF BOTTLE
MASTER OF THE ROCKS SCHOOL, 1740-1850

The sides are carved in relief with a continuous scene depicting on
one side a pavilion on a rocky promontory beneath the crescent
moon and a constellation, with pine and willow trees on the narrow
sides, and on the reverse two sampans, all highlighted by the dark
russet-brown ‘skin’ in contrast to the yellowish-olive color of the
stone.
2¡ in. (6 cm.) high, amethyst stopper

$8,000-10,000

PROVENANCE:

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 1996.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2241.

EXHIBITED:

Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, The
Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.

The Master of the Rocks School seems to have specialized in carvings from
this distinctive material. The School’s main output was bottles 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. The quality of carving and the use of material of the present bottle
are typical of this School.

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
by modern collectors as “han” jade. The main source of nephrite for the
Chinese was the Kunlun Mountains which form the boundary between
Xinjiang province and Tibet. Until the mining of raw material took fight in
the late sixteenth century, jade merchants relied on pebbles carried by the
two main rivers originating in the Kunlun Mountains and fowing on either
side of Khotan. For centuries, the Chinese relied on this traditional method
of gathering raw material, and despite the advent of mining in the late
sixteenth century, it was not until the late seventeenth or early eighteenth
century that Chinese jade connoisseurs overcame their prejudice against
mined material. However, the long history of reverence for jade pebbles
has meant that the Chinese have continued to use the weathered and
discolored skin of pebbles and boulders in their carvings. This even led to
the Qianlong Emperor issuing instructions to artifcially stain jade in order to
give pure material the impression of natural surface staining.

A comparable example of the same size and similar use of a large area of
dark skin from the Blanche B. Exstein Collection was sold at Christie’s New
York, 21 March 2002, lot 158. For other examples of snuff bottles from
the Master of the Rocks School, see lots 228, 272, 313 and Moss, Graham,
Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch
Collection, Volume 1, Jade, pp. 350-369, nos. 136-141.

1740-1850年 褐青玉雕通景山水樓閣圖鼻煙壺

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