6 - A WHITE JADE CARVED ‘LANDSCAPE’ SNUFF BOTTLE, SUZHOU SCHOOL, (FIRST PHASE), 1700-1780

A WHITE JADE CARVED ‘LANDSCAPE’ SNUFF BOTTLE, SUZHOU SCHOOL, (FIRST PHASE), 1700-1780 To Be Sold Without Reserve Flattened pear shape with a cylindrical neck and recessed oval foot, carved in low relief with a continuous landscape design in which Mi Fu kneels bowing to a rock formation from which grass grows while his servant stands behind him with a large fan and another scholar sits on a rocky ledge gazing contemplatively at a nearby bamboo plant with formalized clouds above and a plantain growing to one side Height: 5.5cm Provenance: Hugh M. Moss Ltd Paula J. Hallett Lionel Copley Robert Hall Ltd, Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 16th July 1995, (a copy of the original invoice available) Published: Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles VI, no. 105 The earlier more restrained phase of Suzhou carving is discussed in Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, Hong Kong 1993,under nos. 21 and 28 and will be more fully covered in the forthcoming volume on Jade bottles from the Bloch Collection. This superbly controlled, low relief and restrained carving in white nephrite is typical of the finest of first phase Suzhou carving. Mi Fu was the famous Song literatus and petraphile renowned for being so impressed with one large garden rock in his collection that he donned his official robes, bowed to it and addressed it as `respected elder brother’ Ω This Lot was imported from outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission regime 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer” and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium