Page 110 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17

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AN INSIDE-PAINTED CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE
SIGNED WANG XISAN, DATED GENGZI (1960), BOTTLE 1750-1850
The bottle is decorated on either side with a warrior, one holding a halberd, the other a
sword, with an inscription on one side incorporating a cyclical date gengzi (1960), and a
signature, Xisan, followed by a red seal, ‘Wang’.
2¡ in. (6 cm.) high, agate stopper
$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE

The Mary and George Bloch Collection.
Robert Kleiner, Belfont Company Ltd., Hong Kong, 1996.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2463.
For a discussion of the artist Wang Xisan see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese
Snuf Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 6, Part 1, Hong Kong, 2008, pp.
273-275. The authors note, “As an artistic genius, Wang rapidly became one of the fnest
of all enamellers, both artistically and technically, that China has ever produced.” The
artist paints glass snuf bottles and interior-painted snuf bottles, showing great artistry
in both.
Wang’s earliest works from 1958 to the early 1960s are now amongst the rarest. For
another bottle with an unusual subject of a qilin on one side and water bufalo on the
reverse, dated to the same year as the present bottle (1960), see lot 236 in this catalogue.
庚子年（1960） 王習三作水晶内畫人物圖鼻煙壺 壺：1750-1850年

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