Page 20 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE According to Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury
Ye Zhongsan, 1898 of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol.
Of rounded square shape and painted in a continuous scene with 4, Part I, Inside Painted, pp.231-232, no. 521, where the authors
the eight horses of Muwang strolling in a river or lakeside setting with illustrate a bottle with the same subject dated to 1900, Ye Zhongsan
willow to one side, the eighth horse of the group highly unusually painted the subject of the ‘Eight Horses of Mu Wang’ for the first time
depicted rolling on its side to the underside of the bottle and only in 1896. Another dated 1907 is illustrated by Michael C. Hughes, The
visible from the foot, signed by the artist and dated wuwu. Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Baltimore, 2009,
2 1/2in (6.3cm) high, stopper pp. 262-263, no. 204.

$3,000 - 5,000 Another bottle dated to 1930, is illustrated by Humphrey K.F. Hui, Lai
Suk Yee and Peter Y.K. Lam, Inkplay in Microcosm, Inside-painted
Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection, Art Museum,
1898年 葉仲三 玻璃內畫八駿圖鼻煙壺 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002, no. 87. Interestingly, the
artist used the same conceit of adding the eighth horse of the troupe
Provenance: to the base of the bottle.
Frank Caro, October 1990
The theme of the eight horses, bajun, originates from the legend of
the eight spirited steeds belonging to Muwang (King Mu) of the famed
Zhou dynasty. The character for steed, jun, is homophonous with the
character for ‘a talented man’ and thus the image implies ‘May you be
one of the talented people’.

The painting is loosely modeled after the Yuan dynasty painter Zhao
Mengfu (1254-1322), famous for his depictions of groups of horses
cavorting in fields.

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