A SHADOW AGATE SNUFF BOTTLE


Suzhou School, 1825Of rounded form, supported on a concave foot, the interior very well hollowed, one side carved with the natural inclusions to highlight a water buffalo being coaxed through a flowing stream, the waves incised into the stone, reversed by an old man and a boy standing on a precipice and looking at a gate across the way, with a poetic inscription from the Tang poet Du Mu (803-852) carved in relief with a date of jiyou. 2 1/4in (5.7cm) high
|己酉年（1825年）蘇州作瑪瑙巧雕「清明」詩句圖鼻煙壺款識牧童遥指杏花村 己酉春日Provenance: William A Parker Jr.A similar Suzhou school bottle, also bearing the jiyou date and with the same poetic inscription is illustrated in Hui The Imperial Connection, Chinese Court Related Snuff Bottles from the Humphrey K. F. Hui Collection, no. 91. Here the author eloquently translates the inscription as "a shepherd boy points to the Apricot Village in the distance".