A DENDRITIC AGATE 'TWO MONKEYS' SNUFF BOTTLE OFFICIAL SCHOOL, QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Y.F. Yang, Hong Kong, 1977. 
Belfort Collection, 1986. 

Très précieuses tabatières chinoises: Collection rassemblée par Maître Viviane Jutheau, L'Arcade Chaumet, Paris, 1982.
Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles I, London Convention, London, 1987, cat. no. 13.
Robert Kleiner, Boda Yang, and Clarence F. Shangraw, Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 227.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-5.

Viviane Jutheau, Guide du collectionneur de tabatières chinoises, Paris, 1980, p. 102.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 285.

The overall condition is excellent.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The carver of this bottle started with a piece of material that had a series of intriguing natural markings and proceeded to produce a powerful work of art that incorporated the best of both nature and the human imagination. The material is particularly intriguing and must have proved an exciting challenge to the lapidary. It has dendritic markings, striations of agate, and a wide range of colour variations and planes, creating a fascinating palette from which the carver could ‘paint’ his picture in stone. He has done so to remarkable effect, with several touches of genius that are standard to the best of this group of chalcedony bottles.

Two monkeys sit beneath a tree, the foliage of which is mostly natural to the stone without surface editing. With a little editing of the shape of the trunk, the tree is naturally so well defined that it is obvious that it is a pine. The configuration of the gnarled trunk and branches and the clumping of the foliage leave one in no doubt about this.

Apart from the charm of the main subject and the extraordinary realism of the tree, the setting is masterful. The variation in material used for the rock formation and the plane of light that dissects the foreground upon which the main scene is set are powerful.

One more touch of genius distinguishes this bottle. It is a common device on chalcedony snuff bottles, particularly noticeable in Suzhou carvings, to define the upper limits of a scene by a horizontal band of clouds around the neck or, more frequently the shoulders. This practice is brilliantly echoed here but with markings entirely natural to the material and without any surface editing. The neck and shoulders are horizontally dissected by bands of fascinatingly marked material, giving the impression of a rock face seen through bands of cloud, which then fill the rest of the back of the bottle, making it one of the more intriguing reverse sides on any bottle of this type.

To complete the picture on the reverse and transform it into an independent subject of considerable appeal, if the mist is read as blending into a body of water, the single streak of brown becomes a delightful image of a fish darting through the water. Read as such, one's preconceived certainty as to which is the front of this bottle is shattered, and one is given a choice between two sides which, while quite different in feeling, are of equal power. A choice between the two seems to hinge upon whether one wants to be Confucian, strive for success in a well-regulated society and attain rank and emolument, or be a Daoist and delight in the joy of the fish.