YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1860-1890

It is unusual to find a bottle bearing the name Xiaomei, which was the sobriquet of Wang Su (1794-1877), a prominent literatus and painter from the Yangzhou area. His name appears on a small group of bottles from the Li Junting School, including one in the Bloch Collection (Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, no. 1046, where the connection between Li and the School is explored).

Other examples with his name include one from the Mack Collection illustrated in R. Kleiner, Precious Playthings: Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Mack Collection, no. 34, and one from The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Part I; Christie's New York, 16 September 2015, lot 227.