Page 55 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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A SUZHOU SHADOW AGATE “WANG XIZHI” BOTTLE See Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the
Suzhou, School of Zhiting, 1780-1880 Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. 1, p.229, no. 140,
Of tall rounded rectangular shape with cylindrical neck and flat oval for another masterpiece of this school, that is of similar type, though
foot, carved in low relief, making good use of the internal darker depicting immortals in a landscape rather than the scholar’s on
inclusions, to depict two elderly scholars watching another, presumably our example. For further discussion of the designation, School of
Wang Xizhi, writing with an ink brush on the surface of a smooth-faced Zhiting, see Michael C. Hughes, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin,
rock between them, surrounded by further craggy rockwork, pine and Chinese Snuff Bottles, Baltimore, 2009, pp.122-126, no’s. 95 and
wutong, the reverse face with sparser decoration of further serrated 96. The term was coined by Hugh Moss in an attempt to clear up
rockwork, pine and wutong, below a wispy cloud. a long-held misconception, that the well-known group of bottles
2 1/2in (6.3cm) high, stopper classified as ‘Suzhou School’ and identified by distinctive features
that include ‘serrated rockwork’ formed by serrated ridges with small
$6,000 - 8,000 indentations, represented Suzhou style as a whole. This assumption
is unsustainable, given the substantial number of jade and other hard-
stone objects, other than snuff bottles and pendants, produced in
1780-1880年 蘇州芝亭流派 瑪瑙巧雕松下高仕圖鼻煙壺 Suzhou, which lack this feature entirely. Therefore a new designation,
pertinent to bottles alone, School of Zhiting, was coined. The artist
Provenance: Zhiting, whose precise dates are unknown, produced at least six
Hamish Walsh Antiques, New Zealand, Feb 2010 bottles and countless pendants, carved with this distinctive serration.

THE EMILY BYRNE CURTIS COLLECTION OF CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES | 53