Page 16 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

609
AN INSIDE-PAINTED ‘MIXED-SCRIPT’ AND ‘ELEPHANT-
SUBJECT’ GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Sun Xingwu, 1899
Of rounded rectangular shape, painted on one main face with a
scholar or priest under a Buddhist umbrella with two attendants with
an elephant standing nearby before a hilly backdrop and below a
lengthy inscription with the date of Guangxu 24th year, the artist’s
signature and seals, the other main face with three calligraphic scripts
and seals.
2 9/16in (6.6cm) high, stopper
$6,000 - 8,000

1899年 孫星五 玻璃內畫孝感動天圖鼻煙壺

Provenance:
Ralph M. Chait Galleries Inc., New York, March 1997

Sun Xingwu’s working period appears to have been short-lived seven
years, with his earliest dated bottle painted in 1894 and his last
known in 1900. This places this bottle at the tail end of his output. It
is an extraordinary tour-de-force within the context of his complete
oeuvre and may be a subject visited only once by the artist, that of
a presentation of an elephant before several figures. The reverse
calligraphy with three separate scripts, also seems to be unusual in
his output, and must surely owe something to the influence of the
calligraphy of Ma Shaoxuan.

For another example with the use of seal script above an equestrian
scene, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of
Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 4,
Part I, Inside Painted, pp. 350-351, no. 570.

For a smaller example with a figural landscape scene below a seal
script poem, see Christie’s, Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the J
& J Collection, Part II, 30 March 2005, lot 56.

14 | BONHAMS