A 'SUZHOU' JADEITE SNUFF BOTTLE

very well hollowed, of flattened ovoid form atop a flat oval base and below a gently flared neck, the mouth slightly concave, delicately carved to one face in low relief with a serene depiction of 'The Three Friends of Winter', the bamboo and prunus emerging from rockwork at the base, while the pine tree gently arches above, inscribed san you tu ('Picture of Three Friends'), followed by two seals in negative script, wen wan ('literary plaything' or 'for refined amusement'), the trunk of the pine tree the sole decoration on the otherwise uncarved reverse, the carving ingeniously using the emerald, apple green and celadon tones to dramatic effect

The Reif Collection.
Christie's New York, 18th October 1993, lot 72.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

The bottle is in very good condition overall, with slight wear on the edge of the foot. Very nice patina.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The majority of Suzhou School bottles are fashioned from jade and agate, with a very few known in crystal and even more rarely, in jadeite. The present snuff bottle is considered as one of the earliest examples of Suzhou bottles in any material, and was unrecognized as part of this School when it was previously sold. In fact, the bottle is referenced in the discussion of a jadeite melon-form bottle in The Bloch Collection, (Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 1995, Volume 1, p. 473) where it is stated: this bottle 'is very obviously first-phase Suzhou carving and probably dates from the first half of the eighteenth century---a point missed by everyone at the time [of its sale at Christie's in 1993] (it was catalogued as nineteenth century without any reference to Suzhou and its price certainly did not reflect its extraordinary importance as a jade snuff bottle or its contribution to the question of the importation of jadeite into China).'

The seal wen wan occurs rarely on bottles and, interestingly, on examples from different schools of carving. The Crane Collection has two agate bottles from the Suzhou School with this seal (www.thecranecollection.com, nos. 226 and 363), but few other examples have been published. The occurrence of the seal on bottles from different schools suggests that the bottles may have been originally made for one scholarly collector, since they could not all have come from the same workshop, being of different styles.   

The 'Three Friends of Winter' -- pine, prunus and bamboo -- are models of fortitude and vigor in adverse conditions. The origin of the term is found as early as the Song dynasty, and the subject has remained popular among the artists and literati of China.