Page 193 - Bonhams FINE CHINESE ART London November 2 2021

354
AN AMBER INSIDE-PAINTED
SNUFF BOTTLE
Signed Zhou Leyuan, cyclically dated to the
Renchen year corresponding to 1892 and of the
period
The golden-amber bottle painted in the interior
on each side with a mountain scene, one side
with a pavilion and a lone figure on a boat, the
reverse with two scholars on a mountain path,
with calligraphic inscription, signature of the artist
and cyclical date, jadeite stopper.
6.8cm (2 5/8in) high. (2).
£4,000 - 6,000
CNY36,000 - 53,000
1892年 琥珀內畫鼻煙壺
「壬辰臘月作於京師藕香齋周樂元」款

The influence of Zhou Leyuan on snuff bottle
paintings of the Beijing school is significant,
and the present lot encapsulates some of his
particular traits. One of them is Zhou’s use of
natural markings in the material to enhance
the painting: in this case a smoky mist in the
mountains. Zhou Leyuan also did not use
a copybook, unlike Ye Zhongsan and Ma 353
Shaoxuan, with the consequence that his
compositions tended to be freer and more
dynamic even when, as a commercial artist,
he repeated the same subject matter. H.Moss,
V.Graham and K.B.Tsang wrote that ‘Zhou
Leyuan is the pivotal artist of the late Qing
dynasty’; see A Treasury of Chinese Snuff
Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection
vol.4, part 1, Inside Painted, Hong Kong, 2000,
p.90.

355 Y Ф
AN AGATE ‘SCHOLAR AND PINE TREE’
SNUFF BOTTLE
Mid Qing Dynasty
Crisply carved on one side with a bearded
scholar carrying a staff in front of a long, gnarled
pine issuing from craggy rockwork, a stream
flowing forth into the reverse with a sampan
carrying a fisherman with a fishing rod, also
beneath a pine tree, the stone of honey-amber
tone, tourmaline stopper with ivory spoon.
5.2cm (2in) high. (2).
£6,000 - 10,000
CNY53,000 - 89,000
清中期 瑪瑙浮雕松下高士圖鼻煙壺
354
See a related chalcedony snuff bottle with
scholar and attendant under prunus, 1730-
1850, illustrated by H.Moss, V.Graham and
K.B.Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles:
The Mary and George Bloch Collection vol.2,
part 2, Quartz, Hong Kong, 2000, p.504,
no.366, which was later sold by Sotheby’s Hong
Kong, 25 November 2013, Lot 25.

355

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE CHINESE ART | 191