Page 49 - Bloch-4

Height: 5 cm

suggest that he had already moved and was trying out new supplies of blank glass Mouth/lip: .7/1.6 cm

bottles whether old or new. From 1900 onwards, very few of his bottles are the standard, Beijing blanks.

To offset the simple landscape painting, the other main side is painted with a rare and charming subject for Ding of ducks in a spring river beneath a willow. It is a delightful subject and although simple, well up to Ding's high standards. He painted this rare subject once again in 1901 but without the willow and with an enormous red sun rising through the clouds at the water's horizon (Hugh Moss Records). The subject is reminiscent of a poem written by the eminent Northern Song poet, Su Shi (1037-1101), entitled 'On an Evening View of a Spring River by Hui Chong.' The second line in this poem, 'The ducks are the first to sense the warmth of the water in a river in springtime,' has inspired many pictorial compositions since the poem was written. In terms of snuff bottles, different interpretations of the theme appear most frequently on overlay glass bottles, but others are known in inside-painted bottles, including no. 497, by Zhou Leyuan, where the symbolism is explained. The pair of ducks also represent marital felicity.