CHINE, SUZHOU, DYNASTIE QING, XVIIIEME-XIXEME SIECLE

The town of Suzhou was one of the main cultural centers in China, attracting painters, calligraphers, poets, musicians and other talented individuals. Their pursuits comprise the main subject matter of the group of acclaimed snuff bottles intricately carved from agate and jade in a style unique to at least one workshop in the town, associated with the eighteenth-century master who occasionally signed his wares Zhiting.
For a series of Zhiting School Suzhou agate bottles, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, pp. 114-5, nos. 204-7. See, also, a group of Zhiting School small agate bottles from the collection of Denis Low illustrated by R. Kleiner, Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, Singapore, 1999, nos. 190-3.