A RED-OVERLAY SEAL-SCHOOL OPAQUE WHITE BOTTLE

Details

A RED-OVERLAY SEAL-SCHOOL OPAQUE WHITE BOTTLE
1820-1850, YANGZHOU

Of tapering cylindrical shape, the orange-red overlay carved with a continuous scene of Shoulao under a peach tree with his deer, an assistant nearby with a crane gesticulating towards a ribboned gourd flying through the air near a bat and further crane, a four-character inscription and small seal on the shoulder, stopper

Lot Essay

The four-character inscription reads shou shan fu hai, which is a shortened version of the phrase fu lu dong Shou bi nan shan (aged as the mountain, happiness as deep ectasy). The seal is indecipherable

For a red-overlay bottle identical in shape and also depicting Shoulao and symbols of longevity see Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 15 Oct-26 Nov 1977, Catalogue, fig. 29

For another bottle of similar shape and type see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, p. 91, fig. 128