Lot 1021
Treasury 2, no. 254 (‘The Rustic Winter Crystal’)
HK$40,000

Crystal; with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding flat foot rim; carved with a continuous winter scene with a rustic bridge spanning a stream in a misty mountainous landscape with a pine and a leafless tree
The Rustic Crystal Master, 1730–1880
Height: 5.97
Mouth/lip: 0.68/2.05 cm
Stopper: beryl; silver collar

Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1993)

Published:
Treasury 2, no. 254

With this snuff bottle and, for example, Sale 2, lot 93, we seem to be dealing with the wares of a major hardstone carving centre somewhere in China specializing in crystal and quartzite. We have yet to make a positive identification of that centre, but the most recognizable style associated with it is shown here. It clearly represents a single workshop or the artistic personality of a single artist, so have coined the name ‘School of the Rustic Crystal Master’ for it.

This example is typical of the output of the Rustic Crystal Master, with its delightful painterly low relief, continuous landscape scene made up of a series of standard elements (many of which are drawn out in ink in Moss 1971, p. 23, nos. 39 and 40), excellent, although reasonably thick-walled hollowing, and formal integrity. This is yet another example where the bottle is well but not thinly hollowed; typical of the school as a whole apparently, and with an even, but slightly frosted interior to avoid confusion in viewing both sides at once when the bottle is empty. The frosting also enhances the wintry appearance of the scene, and the regular appearance of bare trees in his works suggests that winter scenes were his speciality.

This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.