AN ENGRAVED OPAQUE WHITE GLASS BOTTLE

Details

AN ENGRAVED OPAQUE WHITE GLASS BOTTLE
SIGNED JING YI JU SHI AND WITH CYCLICAL DATE JIAZI QIU YUE, CORRESPONDING TO AUTUMN MONTH, 1924

Of large rounded rectangular shape, engraved on one side with children playing Blind Man's Buff under a wutong tree on a fenced terrace, a short inscription to one side, including the date and signature, the reverse with a twelve-line vertical inscription from the preface to the "Orchid Pavilion", the name Wang Xi zhi and two seals, Wu Yin, the engraved areas highlighted in black, minute brown inclusion in glass visible at tree, some small air bubbles, stopper

Provenance

Albert Pyke Collection, Los Angeles

Lot Essay

Jing Yi Ju Shi appears to be an art name and the Wu Yin seals suggest the real name is Wu

"The Orchid Pavilion" was written in 353 A.D. by Wang Xi (321-379 A.D.), the 'Sage of Calligraphy'. "The Orchid Pavilion" was much copied by generations of calligraphers

The style of engraving suggests an artist familiar with the bottles of Zhou Honglai, working in Nanjing at the turn of the century. For an example of his work see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, pp. 94-95, figs. 133-134