English
中文
Bottle ID: 447
MASTER OF THE ROCKS
Date: 1780-1850
Height: 61 mm
Soapstone, well hollowed, of flattened ovoid form, the sides carved with mock mask and ring handles, the yellow stone stained brown on one side and carved on that side with a scene of two seated figures with gourds, one releasing incense, being approached by a third figure carrying a gourd, whilst above them on an overhanging rock a fourth figure holds out a lotus branch.
Similar Examples:
Crane Collection no. 307
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 366-367, no. 141.
Provenance:
Asian Art Studio
Christie's, New York, September 21, 2000, lot 135
Soapstone was a favored material of the literati from the Ming Period onwards. As a soft stone, it could be easily worked by the carver, who would find inspiration in the mottled surface. For the owner of smaller pieces such as seals, soapstone had a very tactile energy that was appealing to the scholar. It is odd therefore that the Qing literati, who were also prolific snuff takers, did not so wholly embrace this aesthetic for snuff bottles. Despite the relatively large group in the Crane Collection, soapstone bottles are few and far between in the general marketplace. One reason for this may be that bottles in this material were never mass-produced, being usually commissioned on an individual basis by the scholar. Even in the Palace workshops, from the eighteenth century onwards, bottles were ordered in large numbers, particularly in glass.
The Crane example is particularly interesting as there were no similar bottles published in soapstone; the "Bloch" example being carved in nephrite (jade). When this bottle was sold in Christie's New York, it was catalogued as jade and only noticed as soapstone during the viewing of the auction. No other soapstone bottles from the "Master of the Rocks" School appears to have been published making the Crane bottle a very rare example.