Page 61 - Bloch-4

An Imperial Qing Tradition, no. 207), where, lest there be any doubt as to it being Erzhong's other name,

the signature reads Erzhong di Ding Shangyu where the character di (literally 'younger brother') is used in a humble manner to suggest that the inscriber is of an inferior social rank to the recipient designated in the inscription. This alternative name then occurs sporadically throughout his career as a bottle-painter. In Wang Bei'er's biography (see

under no. 537) he reads the last character wrongly as geng, a somewhat similar looking character, suggesting that on his seals, which were the focus of Wang's study, this name does not appear much, if at all, but it is quite clear from the many occurrences on his snuff bottles that the correct reading is Ding Shangyu. Wang also suggests that the second character, Shang, can also be written with the alternative form meaning 'on', but this does not appear on the snuff bottles nor on the few known paintings and calligraphy.