Footnotes

Treasury 2, no. 368


巧色玉髓學士揮筆鼻煙壺
芝亭流派，蘇州，1730～1850

Zhiting's Elegant Garden Party

Dendritic chalcedony; reasonably well hollowed with a concave lip and flat foot; carved with a continuous partially cameo scene of a scholar, in full robes and hat, holding a brush in his right hand and about to write on a length of paper or silk stretched over a painting table in a rocky garden scene with two pines and two maple trees, with a small clump of long-stemmed lingzhi, while his attendant walks away from him carrying a book towards a diagonal swirl of formalized clouds, two small patches of colour at the neck carved as formalized clouds
Zhiting school, Suzhou, 1730–1850
Height: 5.85 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.78/1.99 cm
Stopper: turquoise; silver collar
Condition: small lapidary mark left on the top of one shoulder from the original carving process and another, smaller, still just below it above the pine needles; miniscule nibbles to the edges of two of the groups of maple/wutong leaves—not obtrusive. General relative condition: very good


Provenance:
Hugh Moss (1985)

Published:
Moss 1971, p. 65, no. 169
Kleiner 1987, no. 149
JICSBS, Autumn 1997, p. 13
Treasury 2, no. 368
Exhibited:
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993

Commentary
This is one of the masterpieces of the Zhiting school, with the material superbly interpreted and confidently carved into a dynamic and evocative subject. The obsessional lengths to which the Zhiting school went to employ every nuance of colour is illustrated by the rather strange diagonal wisp of clouds. As a rule these clouds define the upper border of the picture, allowing it to blend into a relatively plain neck, although necks may be decorated if there are areas of colour in need of interpretation. Close examination reveals that the reason for this atypical use of the cloud-scroll is a slight change in colour in the ground material which, without carving, would read as a paler diagonal line at that point. The clouds successfully hide this by turning the flaw into a positive element, giving a hint of misty, paler tone to the clouds. The flaw is pale, virtually invisible and would have been barely noticeable even if not carved, but it was enough for the carver to use and the Zhiting obsession with coloured inclusions dictated the band of diagonal clouds.

The scholar in his full scholastic outfit, including the characteristic hat with two extended side finials, is the epitome of coiled, confident energy about to be unleashed as calligraphic power. Scholars would frequently inspire themselves for calligraphic forays by studying old rubbings of the works of famous masters, usually bound as a series of separate sections contained in a brocaded loose binding (tao).

The picture is both delightful and powerful in its simplicity and abstract strength. The natural colours in the stone are not as widespread and varied as on many of the school, allowing the artist simple, uncluttered use of just three main areas of colour for the main view (the scholar's robes, the attendant's jacket and belt, and the pine-needle clusters). This concentrates attention, and gives the impression of a less miniaturized picture. The last example, in particular, with its more scattered and smaller details, needs close attention. It functions more overtly as a miniature, to be examined closely before it reveals its secrets, whereas this one is more immediately powerful even from a distance. When one is drawn closer to the detail of the design, it becomes apparent that the darker markings are dendritic which brings fascinating texture to the robes.

As far as the growing lexicon of Zhiting school style is concerned, we can add here the third common form of tree for the school. The typical second-phase prunus was seen in Treasury 2, no. 366 and the pine in Treasury 2, no. 367 and as the main tree here. The second, smaller tree here is a second tree-type which is almost as common for the school as the pine. Its identity is uncertain, it may be intended as a wutong, an auspicious tree and by legend, the choice of the fabled fenghuang as an exclusive roosting place, or it may be a maple or some other species. It is depicted by this school with a very similar trunk and branches to the pine tree, and growing from similarly inhospitable places such as from the sides of rocky banks, or from the tops of crags, but has different foliage, formalized and resembling clusters of three floppy spaniel's ears radiating downwards and outwards. The same clusters of leaves, without branches, are also used for ground foliage in some cases (see, for instance, Treasury 2, no. 366, in the foreground in front of the attendant). It is probably more likely to be a maple than a wutong.

Although more extensively hollowed than many Zhiting school works, it is still not particularly thin-walled by, say, Official school standards. The Zhiting school tended to leave thicker walls to its bottles than other schools, although still allowing ample capacity and hollowing the inside very well, if not extensively.

芝亭苑中揮毫灑墨圖

玉髓；掏膛頗完整，凹唇、平底足；浮雕繞壺一學士松前執筆按紙的景觀，苑中有松樹二棵、楓樹或梧桐樹二棵、長莖靈芝一叢、書童一人，頸上部二斑紋雕雲紋

芝亭流派，蘇州：1730～1850
高：5.85 厘米
口經/唇經：0.78/1.99 厘米
蓋：綠松石，銀座
狀態敘述：肩上部有一刻匠刀痕，此痕與下邊的松針之間有更小的刀痕，楓/梧桐二團葉緣有小咬痕，不惹眼；一般相對的狀況：很好

拍賣品號25之來源：
莫士撝（1985）
文獻：
Moss 1971, 頁65，圖169
Kleiner 1987, 編號149
《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society 1997秋期，頁13
Treasury 2, 編號368
展覽：
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦, 1987年10 月
Creditanstalt, 維也納, 1993年5月至6月
說明：
本壺是芝亭流派傑作之一。石材的潛在圖像都很有把握地表達出來了。如何運用石材每一斑紋的問題就把亭流派迷住了，可拿本壺頸部非常規的斜行圖案式雲頭為證：一般來說，頸肩處的雲紋作為圖象的邊緣，頸部則不加紋飾，除非有斑紋要雕呈圖象。仔細察看本壺，就發現雲頭是在石色稍微淡一點的地方，不雕刻的話，也許沒人注意，但畢竟是可以利用的瑕疵，而芝亭流派的刻匠就捨不得利用。

景中的學士戴好了方翅烏紗帽子，他拿起筆來，書童手裏的字帖已經諳熟了，現在是凝心靜氣，聚精會神的時機，快要落筆繪畫五嶽了。本壺的圖象簡明悅目，玉髓的斑紋不像很多此流派的煙壺那麼疏散，斑紋集中於學士冠服、書童的上衣、車輪狀的松針等，觀看者不覺得是微型畫，遠看也具有氣派。同時，近看則發覺暗色的地方有雜色斑駁點，也滿可玩賞的。

本壺雕呈的松樹是芝亭流派典型的松樹，另一種樹木不知道是楓樹還是梧桐，但同樣是本派景象中典型的樹木。它和松一樣，或生於山巖， 或生於石崖。

內膛掏得比很多芝亭流派的煙壺還徹底，但瓶壁並不如御賜類的煙壺那麼薄。芝亭流派一般的瓶壁比其他派的厚，但是容量還充足，掏膛完整。