A FINE INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK-CRYSTAL BOTTLE

SIGNED ZHOU LEYUAN AND DATED RENCHEN YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1892

Details

A FINE INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK-CRYSTAL BOTTLE
Signed Zhou Leyuan and dated Renchen Year, Corresponding to 1892
Of rounded rectangular shape, finely painted with a boy playing a flute whilst seated atop a buffalo near a bridge with a prunus backdrop, the other side with a lone figure in a pavilion set in a mountainous landscape, stopper
2½in. (6.4cm.) high

Lot Essay

For an undated example painted on the side with the popular theme of a boy on a buffalo, see Sotheby's, Hong Kong, Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Kaynes-Klitz Collection, Part II, October 30, 1990, lot 142

For another example of the same subject by Ma Shaoxun, see Sotheby Parke Bernet, Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles, November 2, 1978, lot 109; and another dated 1909 by Ye Zhongsan, see Humphrey Hui and Christopher Sin, An Imperial Qing Tradition, San Francisco, 1994, Catalogue, p. 198, no. 233

The theme chunfeng deyi, meaning "have a happy time in spring", is depicted by a boy on a buffalo and implies a happy bucolic life