WANG XISAN, ARTS AND CRAFTS WORKSHOP, NORTH-WESTERN SUBURBS OF BEIJING, 1964

Details

**A VERY FINE ENAMELLED WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
WANG XISAN, ARTS AND CRAFTS WORKSHOP, NORTH-WESTERN SUBURBS OF BEIJING, 1964
Of flattened form with flat lip and recessed, flat oval foot surrounded by a footrim, painted with a continuous landscape with three scholars at leisure in and around a country retreat nestled in a valley, a hawker approaching one, carrying two panniers of his wares on a pole balanced on his shoulder while a servant sweeps grass in front of an open pavilion in which one of the other scholars sits, the neck with a band of stylized shou characters above a band of four formalized bats, the foot inscribed with an apocryphal mark in blue enamel in regular script, Qianlong nian zhi ('Made in the Qianlong period'), gilt bronze stopper with integral finial and collar, decorated with a formalized floral design
1 15/16 in. (4.92 cm.) high

Provenance

Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
Kurt Graf Blucher von Wahlstatt (Count Blucher)
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
Harry Ross
Christie's, London, 19 June 1978, lot 43 (also illustrated as the frontispiece)
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.

Literature

H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, p. 123, no. 281
An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hugh M. Moss Ltd, p. 66, no. 265
Christie's Review of the Season, 1978, p. 427
Arts of Asia, May-June 1978, p. 27
Arts of Asia, May-June 1979, p. 129
JICSBS, Autumn 1985, p. 127, fig. 356
JICSBS, Winter 1987, p. 34, fig. 1
Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, Vol. 1, no. 208

Exhibited

Hugh M. Moss Ltd., London 1970
Christie's New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

Wang Xisan, the famous modern master of inside-painted snuff bottles, learned the art of enameling glass from his teacher, Ye Bengqi. Wang was unquestionably the finest enameler since the zenith of the Beijing Palace workshops under the Qianlong Emperor. Compare another enameled white glass bottle by Wang Xisan from the Kaynes-Klitz Collection, sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 30 October 1990, lot 58, and the only enameled vase by the artist, sold at Christie's, London, 13 May 2008, lot 212.

This bottle is extremely rare as Wang Xisan usually decorated his enameled glass bottles with birds and flowers, and he recalls painting only three with landscape designs.

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