Page 84 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

461
AN INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE
Ye Zhongsan or Studio
circa 1930
The attractive stone with a network of snowy net-like inclusions
throughout, painted in a continuous scene with Huang Chengyan
approaching a bridge riding on a donkey followed by his attendant
with a gourd over his shoulder, below the signature and seal, yin, on
one main face, the reverse with a scholar, perhaps Liu Bei and his
attendant clutching a wrapped qin, all set in a snowy winter landscape;
stopper.
2 1/2in (6.5cm) high
$5,500 - 7,500

1930年前後 葉仲三或葉氏家族 水晶内畫三國人物鼻煙壺

Provenance:
Button Collection
Robert Hall Ltd., The Button Collection, March 2004

Published:
Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles X, The Button Collection, London,
2004, No. 99

Exhibited:
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria,
New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 101

See two other Ye bottles in this collection, lots 457 and 459, which
differ in the subject depicted on the reverse side. Here Ye makes
extraordinary use of the snowy inclusions that run through the matrix of
the entire stone to add a realistic winter backdrop to the scenes.

The subject is taken from the novel Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the
Three Kingdoms), see Ka Bo Tsang, ‘Who is the Rider on the Donkey?
Some New Observations,’ ICSBS Journal, Summer 1994, pp. 5-7.

82 | BONHAMS