Lot 412. A carved greenish-yellow jade snuff bottle, Master of the Rocks school, 1740-1860. Estimate USD  5,000 - USD 7,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The bottle is carved on one side through the opaque buff and russet 'skin' with the immortal Ma Gu steering a pine tree boat containing a crane, a basket of peaches, and hung with a double gourd. The reverse is undecorated except for a small carving of rocks through a brown patch in the stone above the foot. The narrow sides have mask-and-ring handles. 2 ½ in. (6.3 cm.) high, shell stopper 

Provenance: Robert Kleiner, London, 2004.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 3959.

Note: The Master of the Rocks School appears to have specialized in jade carvings from this distinctive material. The School's main output was bottles carved with landscape designs, but many other subjects are recorded. For a discussion of the Master of the Rocks School of carving, see H. Moss, V. Graham, K.B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 340-373, nos. 133-43.

Christie's. The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part IV, 15 March 2017, New York, Rockefeller Center