Page 9 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE For another bottle by Tang Zichuan, with a similar towered gateway,
Tang Zichuan, 1892 laden donkeys and an identical wall inscription, but painted in bright
Of rounded rectangular shape, painted with a continuous scene of a colors rather than the more subdued sepia tones of our example; and
figure driving a group of laden donkeys past a towered gateway with in a more pronounced perspective, see Christie’s, New York, The Ruth
shops and buildings nearby and peopled with various laborers and and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part V, 13
greeting figures all below a clear sky with crescent moon, two walls September 2017, lot 335.
inscribed Sanhe laodian and Anwan ke(zhan).
2 9/16in (6.6cm) high, stopper Tang Zichuan was an artist working in the north at Beijing. Whilst
producing a fair number of competent bottles, few are actually dated.
$1,500 - 2,500 Our bottle appears to join a small group with a date of 1892, the
earliest recorded. His work is unusually varied in style, and he usually
uses a wide range of colors, though occasionally, as in this bottle, uses
1892年 湯子川 玻璃內畫城垣人物圖鼻煙壺 more subdued tones. He seems to have cut a niche market for himself
in depicting street scenes, which sometimes incorporate European-
style buildings.

For an example of the latter, see 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, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, 2002, no.120.

THE EMILY BYRNE CURTIS COLLECTION OF CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES | 7