Lot 101

Lot 101
Treasury 2, no. 372 (‘Zhiting’s Prescience’)
HK$620,000

An inscribed chalcedony 'sage and landscape' snuff bottle

Chalcedony; reasonably well hollowed, with a concave lip and protruding flat foot with slight irregularities where the surface carving meets the foot; carved with a continuous, partially cameo scene of a sage, his long hair tied in a bun at the back of his head, seated holding what may be a pearl in a rocky landscape with a large brazier in which an enormous image of a further pearl or perhaps the sun or moon floats in the formalized smoke, inscribed in relief draft script ‘Having learned [the secret of attaining] long life, there is no need to count [how many] springs [one has lived].’
Suzhou, school of Zhiting, 1740–1860
Height: 5.1 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.69/1.63 cm
Stopper: glass; metal collar

Provenance:
Isabel Mayar (1965)
Margaret Prescott Wise
Edgar and Roberta Wise (1995)
Robert Kleiner (1995)

Published:
Moss 1971, p. 64, no. 167
Sin, Hui, and Kwong 1996, no. 198
Treasury 2, no. 372

Exhibited:
Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, October 1996

This large-scale figure subject is unusual for the school of Zhiting. Otherwise, it is typical of the school, with masterly use of the colours in the stone, characteristic serrated rockwork, and other features. The inscription, in relief draft script, is also typical of Zhiting and ranks as one of those that were probably done by him. Another feature of the Zhiting style is introduced here, where layers of well-defined, formalized smoke, vapour, or clouds are superimposed on each other, much as the rockwork style was built up. Here, smoke from the brazier is obviously intended and some darker markings in the stone have been cleverly used to give the impression of the pearl in the centre, if that is indeed what it is intended to be, glowing with light, a metaphor for the enlightenment experience it represents, and illuminating the dark pall of smoke from within. Others with this style of smoke or vapour carving are Treasury 2, no. 374, and Sale 1, lot 55.