102 - AN OLIVE-BROWN OVERLAY ON WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE YANGZHOU, 1850-1900

AN OLIVE-BROWN OVERLAY ON WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE YANGZHOU, 1850-1900 To Be Sold Without Reserve Carved in low relief as a single overlay, with olive-brown on white, with, on one side, a cockerel and two chicks beside bamboo growing from behind a natural rock-sculpture, with a butterfly overhead, the other side with an equestrian archer, followed by his dog on a lead, beneath a goose he has just shot in flight and another flying away, with one cameo seal of the artist in seal script, xinwan (‘plaything of the heart’), the narrow sides each with mask and oval ring handles, the foot in the overlay colour Height: 5.5cm Provenance: Robert Hall Martin Clatworthy Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 11th May 2000, (a copy of the original invoice available) The subject is a rare one for Yangzhou glass workshops, but two other versions are recorded, one of which is illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch (British Museum) as no. 172, where it is recorded on the narrow side of the bottle that it was made by Sun Shihua, who may also have made this bottle. The scene is taken from a painting by Hua Yan, the famous Yangzhou artist of the eighteenth century, entitled ‘The Hunter’ (see, The Eccentric Painters of Yangzhou, China Institute in America, Catalogue, p. 34. fig. 4) Ω This Lot was imported from outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission regime 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer” and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium