Footnotes

Treasury 1, no. 2

閃玉卵石料鼻煙壺

Standing-Rock Pebble

Nephrite of pebble material; very well hollowed with a recessed, slightly convex foot

1730–1860
Height: 9.02 cm
Mouth: 0.71 cm
Stopper: jadeite, carved as a crouching frog
Condition: workshop condition

Illustration: watercolour by Peter Suart

Provenance:
Robert Hall (1987)
Published:
Hall 1987, no. 56
Treasury 1, no. 2
Exhibited:
Robert Hall Gallery, London, October 1987


Commentary
Like Treasury 1, no. 1 this is also a pebble bottle in both senses of the word (see also discussion under Treasury 1, no. 62). It follows almost entirely the natural form of an irregular pebble, complete with its yellowish-russet skin. The exception is at the base where a recessed circular foot has been carved out of the once rounded end of the natural pebble, revealing the white core material. A foot, and a unique one for pebble bottles with a defined foot, was undoubtedly added because the form of the pebble is sculpturally more powerful in this upright position. It transforms the natural pebble into a rock-sculpture. The Chinese were obsessed with natural rock formations as art (see discussion under Treasury 1, no. 118). There was an immense range of possibilities for these stones which became a staple of studio, home and garden from the Tang dynasty onwards. Some were convoluted, full of holes and crags, while others were smooth and plain. Even stalagmites and stalactites were mounted on stands for house, terrace or garden. Many of these were miniatures, often set on elaborate stands on the scholar's table to evoke the grandeur of nature. The impression given by this snuff bottle is of a monolithic boulder standing upright in the earth. Were it not for the stopper it could be of any size in the imagination, which was, of course, an essential feature of these microcosmic landscape rocks. They allowed the aesthete to sit at a desk and still travel mentally to the towering peaks and valleys of distant mountain ranges.

The stopper somewhat dominates the nature of this sculpture, which is otherwise quite plain and abstract in its own right, and even though the frog limits the scale of the rock by its own obvious limitations in size, it is one of the finest frogs known in the stopper world. Made from a gorgeous piece of emerald-green jadeite, it is of generous proportions and simply but evocatively carved to give it great personality with bug-eyes and a very wide mouth, fixed in a rather cynical, know-it-all, expression. Perched on the very tip of the rock, it becomes a major element of the sculpture, dictating not only its style but the personality of the entire work of art. Indeed, the subject becomes the stopper and the rock the setting. With this stopper, this is a frog-on-a-boulder snuff bottle, and a delightful one at that, rather than a pebble snuff bottle with a frog-shaped stopper. This is an ideal subject for the idea of alternative stoppers suggested under Treasury 1, no. 55. A stalk, for instance, would transform it into a fruit- or vegetable-form, and differing sizes of other naturalistic elements (lingzhi, birds, other creatures, or whatever) would radically change the scale and qualities of the rock-form.

卵石聳峭絕

閃玉卵石料，掏膛非常規整，圓形微凸斂足

1730～1860
高：9.02 厘米
口經：0.71厘米
蓋：翡翠，雕伏蹲蛙
狀態敘述：出坊狀態

有彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫

來源：
羅伯特．霍爾 (1987)

文獻：
Hall 1987, 編號56
Treasury 1, 編號 2

展覽：
Robert Hall Gallery, 倫敦, 1987年10 月

說明：
這件鼻煙壺既是卵石料亦是卵石形。底部磨成足之處能觀察這塊軟玉核心的顏色。卵石形煙壺一般沒有足（何況圓形足），但本卵石可在桌子上直立，就顯出挺拔聳峭之勢了，給賞石者提供無盡的想像空間。

雖說青蛙和卵石所象徵的直入雲霄的孤峰比此規模懸殊，不過，這青蛙的確是煙壺蓋界中最佳的青蛙之一，牠鼓睛暴眼，嘴巴橫寬，好像這小伙子樣樣都知道，雕得很有個性。而且，璀璨的翡翠蓋和樸實的壺身互相襯托。或許可以說，青蛙是主題而坡石是背景。如以斷莖、鳥、靈芝等象形型蓋代替之，本壺的性質會變，這證明本壺不是帶青蛙型蓋的卵石煙壺而是以青蛙伏蹲著磐石為題材的煙壺。