YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1840-1890

Details

A RED-OVERLAY MILKY-WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1840-1890
The bottle is carved through the red overlay to the transparent white glass ground with Damo holding his hat on the end of a staff, next to a small seal reading Xiaomei. The other side is decorated with a medallion formed by an archaistic palindrome associated with Damo. Each narrow side has a delicate mask and ring handle.
2 1/8 in. (5.3 cm.) high, jadeite stopper

Provenance

Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2028.

Literature

Symposium on Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Carl F. Barron, Presented at the Annual Convention of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Association, Boston, privately printed, 2008, p. 10.
H. Moss and S. Sargent, “The World in a Bottle in the World at the End of the Qing Empire: Part 2, Yangzhou Overlay Glass,” Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Spring 2011, p. 23, fig. 32 (upper right).

Exhibited

Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.

Special notice

Items which contain rubies or jadeite originating in Burma (Myanmar) may not be imported into the U.S. As a convenience to our bidders, we have marked these lots with Y. Please be advised that a purchaser¹s inability to import any such item into the U.S. or any other country shall not constitute grounds for non-payment or cancellation of the sale. With respect to items that contain any other types of gemstones originating in Burma (e.g., sapphires), such items may be imported into the U.S., provided that the gemstones have been mounted or incorporated into jewellery outside of Burma and provided that the setting is not of a temporary nature (e.g., a string).

Sale room notice

Items which are made of, or contain, rubies or jadeite originating in Burma (Myanmar) may not be imported into the U.S. As a convenience to our bidders, lots which contain rubies or jadeite of Burmese origin or of indeterminate origin have been marked with ?.

Lot Essay

Xiaomei was the courtesy name of Wang Su (1794-1877). His name appears on a number of Yangzhou-school snuff bottles, a few of which bear dates. For a discussion of the artist, and updated information on the Yangzhou school, see H. Moss and S. Sargent, “The World in a Bottle in the World at the End of the Qing Empire: Part 2, Yangzhou Overlay Glass,” Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Spring 2011, pp. 22-29. The authors also note and illustrate bottles on which the inscription reads “made for Xiaomei” and conclude that he was most likely a patron for this group. For a bottle with such an inscription, Xiaomei and wan (together meaning `A Plaything for Xiaomei’) see Moss, Grahm, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 2002, Volume 5, Part 3, pp. 776-778, no. 1046.

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