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Lot Essay
For a discussion on the Official School of hardstone carving, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, no. 258, with numerous examples.
Fishermen in boats, with or without fish, was a popular theme for the Official School of hardstone carving produced at or for the Court and widely distributed between officials and as Imperial gifts to aspiring officials. The symbolism usually covers a range of wishes for advancement in the civil service or other concepts held by the scholar class. Fishermen in their natural surroundings imply the idealized life of the rustic peasant, in harmony with nature, in contrast to the busy scholar caught up in urban life. If the fisherman is shown actually catching a fish, a wish for wealth and success might be implied, and it is possible that even fish that are implied rather than depicted mean the same.
This is a delightful example of the lower-relief range of partial cameo carvings typical of the school that fall between the standard high-relief type and those known as "silhouette agates" where only a thin sliver of darker color is selected to form the design. The bottle shows particular inventiveness in the use of the varied range of coloring in the stone.
Fishermen in boats, with or without fish, was a popular theme for the Official School of hardstone carving produced at or for the Court and widely distributed between officials and as Imperial gifts to aspiring officials. The symbolism usually covers a range of wishes for advancement in the civil service or other concepts held by the scholar class. Fishermen in their natural surroundings imply the idealized life of the rustic peasant, in harmony with nature, in contrast to the busy scholar caught up in urban life. If the fisherman is shown actually catching a fish, a wish for wealth and success might be implied, and it is possible that even fish that are implied rather than depicted mean the same.
This is a delightful example of the lower-relief range of partial cameo carvings typical of the school that fall between the standard high-relief type and those known as "silhouette agates" where only a thin sliver of darker color is selected to form the design. The bottle shows particular inventiveness in the use of the varied range of coloring in the stone.