The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 286

286
AN INSIDE-PAINTED CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE
ATTRIBUTED TO THE YE FAMILY, APRICOT GROVE STUDIO, BEIJING, DATED TO THE APRICOT MONTH OF THE BINGCHEN YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1916
Of compressed form with flat lip and recessed, flat foot surrounded by a footrim, depicting scenes from the Liaozhai zhiyi, one main side decorated with two female attendants in a chamber with a window overlooking a garden, one woman holding a cymbal while another stands by a qin on a table, a male servant holding a lit candle nearby, the other main side with a young man in a tree looking down upon three women in a garden, inscribed in draft script, Composed in the Apricot [second] month in the bingchen year [1916] by Ma Shaoxuan, with seal, Yin, carnelian stopper with silver collar
6.6 cm. high
$2,500-3,500

P R O V E N A N C E :
Robert Hall, London.

E X H I B I T E D :
Robert Hall, London, “Chinese Snuff Bottles II”, October 1989, no. 28.
L I T E R A T U R E :

Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles II, London, 1989, no. 28.
V. Meade, “A Guide to Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Liao Chai Chih,” JICSBS, September 1980.

This extremely unusual bottle was painted by the Ye family, but signed “Ma Shaoxuan” (1867-1939), a snuff-bottle master represented by lot 253. The Ye family may have been commissioned to paint a bottle copying one by Ma, but the artist did not adapt his style to imitate Ma’s, and merely inscribed Ma’s signature.

From 1913 Ye was joined in his studio by his eldest son, Ye Bengzhen, and shortly thereafter by Ye Xiaofeng, so in 1916 the work could have been done by Ye himself, or by one of his two sons. It is also possible that they worked together to produce bottles. See Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 4, Inside Painted, no. 645, for a discussion on Ye Zhongsan and his sons. The Ye family drew heavily from the Liaozhai zhiyi (Strange Tales Recorded by the Studio of Idle Talk), a collection of love and ghost storied first published in 1679.

The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 286