Page 13 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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AN INSIDE-PAINTED CALLIGRAPHIC GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE Zhou Leyuan is acknowledged as the most pivotal snuff bottle artist
Zhou Leyuan, 1889 of the late Qing dynasty. The art of the inside-painted bottle reached
Of rounded rectangular shape, the interior buffed to a misty finish its zenith between the 1880s and the 1920s with Zhou Leyuan as
to highlight the ink calligraphy, each side with a sixty-nine-character the single most influential figure amongst a host of many. For a full
poetic inscription, one with the cyclical date jichou followed by a seal discussion of his supremacy in the field, see Hugh Moss, Victor
and the other with the signature and seal. Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The
2 3/16in (5.5cm) high, stopper Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 4, Part I, Inside Painted, pp.
90-93, no. 465.
$2,000 - 3,000
This example with the use of calligraphy alone may be unique in
Zhou’s oeuvre. Whilst many bottles by him have lengthy inscriptions
1889年 周樂元 玻璃內畫行書詩文鼻煙壺 dotted around a variety of landscape and other pictorial images, this
appears to be the only recorded bottle dedicated solely to calligraphy.
Provenance: His chosen text is the preface to the Lanting Pavilion Gathering
Guest & Gray, London, April 1995 (Lantingxu), the original written by Wang Xizhi (303-361), the progenitor
of the orthodox lineage of Chinese calligraphy.

THE EMILY BYRNE CURTIS COLLECTION OF CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES | 11