Lot 25
Treasury 4, no. 499 (‘Pastoral Delight in Summer’)
HK$87,500
Pale brown crystal, ink, and watercolours; with a flat lip, recessed flat foot, and protruding rounded foot rim; painted with a continuous summer landscape with a fisherman wearing a straw rain cloak punting his boat into the shade of some willows and two scholars sitting in an open pavilion; inscribed in cursive script Renchen shuxia, xie yu jingshi, Ouxiang zhai, Zhou Leyuan 壬辰暑夏寫於京師藕香齋周樂元 (‘Painted in the hot summer of the year renchen in the capital, the Studio of Lotus-root Fragrance, Zhou Leyuan’), followed by one seal of the artist, Yuan yin 元印 (Yuan’s seal), in negative seal script
Bottle: 1750 – 1850
Painting: Zhou Leyuan, Studio of Lotus-root Fragrance, Beijing, 1892
Height: 6.35 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.61/1.80 and 1.63 cm (oval)
Stopper: jadeite; vinyl collar
Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd (1985)
Published:
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 321
Treasury 4, no. 499
Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, March – June 1994
National Museum of Singapore, November 1994 – February 1995
Christie’s, London, 1999
The painting on this bottle is typical of Zhou’s classic late landscapes; it is exquisitely controlled, wrapped around the bottle, and inscribed with the date and place of painting in the neat, angular calligraphy of his later style. However, when he paints a continuous landscape, as in Sale 5, lot 72, Sale 8, lot 1098, and others, Zhou generally maintains a consistent scale or distance from his subject. In this case, the fisherman is viewed from a much closer vantage point than the scholars in the pavilion on the other side. The transition is handled faultlessly; after all, such variations in perspective had long been a technique of Chinese painting, particularly with horizontal scrolls. Sale 6, lot 145 is another example, although the absence of human figures on one side makes the difference in scale more subtle.
This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.