Page 28 - The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part I

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A WELL-CARVED AGATE SNUFF BOTTLE
SCHOOL OF ZHITING, SUZHOU, 1750-1850

The ovoid bottle is cleverly carved through dark brown and opaque white areas of the pale
grey stone on one side with a scholar seated on the edge of a large rock with nearby prunus
blossoms with an attendant approaching with a jar of wine, and with two piebald horses, one
recumbent beneath a prunus tree, on the other side.
2¿ in. (5.3 cm.) high, jadeite stopper

$5,000-7,000

PROVENANCE:

Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 1994.

Zhiting, for whom the school was named, was one of the few hardstone carvers of the Qing dynasty,
known for his jade works, who signed his wares with the intention of establishing an artistic identity.
The frst of these artists to do so was Lu Zigang, who probably inspired Zhiting, although the former
worked two centuries earlier. Extant signed works by Zhiting are all small, being either pendants or
snuff bottles, and a similar style of carving links the jade and quartz pendants to the snuff bottles.
The name “Zhiting School” has been applied to this particular group of carvings from Suzhou. For a
discussion on the Zhiting School, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The
Mary and George Bloch Collection, Volume 2, Part 2, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 504-9, no. 366. Also
see ibid., Volume 1, Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 304-307, no. 122, for a signed Zhiting jade bottle and a
discussion of the other jade examples signed by the master carver.

1750-1850年
蘇作瑪瑙巧雕山水人物圖鼻煙壺

(another view)

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