Page 93 - The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part I

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AN INSIDE PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
SIGNED YE ZHONGSAN, DATED DINGYOU YEAR (1897)

The bottle is painted with a continuous scene, on one side with a crane beneath the long
branch of a pine tree that extends to the other side where swallows futter around the
branches, all above fat rocks from which lingzhi and peonies grow.
2æ in. (6.8 cm.) high, glass stopper

$4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE:

Sara Jo and Arthur Kobaker Collection, Columbus, Ohio.
Robert Hall, London, 2011.

The subject of a crane resting beneath a pine tree was one that was most likely inspired by Zhou
Leyuan, whose works Ye admired. Another bottle by Ye with this subject on one side, from the same
year and with the use of the blue palette, is illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang in A Treasury of
Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, Volume 4, Part I, Hong Kong, 2000,
pp. 212-213, no. 513, where it is noted that “1897 was a fruitful year for Ye Zhongsan. Confdent in
his style, obviously attracting a growing clientele and broadening his range of subjects, he seems to
have become an established artist among the small group who followed Zhou Leyuan...”

丁酉年 (1897) 葉仲三作玻璃內畫「松鶴延年」圖鼻煙壺

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