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Bottle ID: 00473
CLEAR W/BLACK OVERLAY, SMALL FIGURE & ANIMALS
Date: 1820-1840
Height: 60 mm
Glass, of flattened rectangular shape with tapering shoulders to a straightened mouth, the clear body overlaid in black, on one side with a piglet drinking from a water-trough watched by its mother beside a leafy tree, the seal Xiaomei to one side, the reverse with a small figure holding a staff confronting a water-buffalo and a dog barking to one side, the sides carved with mock mask and ring handles.
Attributed to Yangzhou.
Similar Examples:
Hui, Humphrey K. F., Margaret Polak and Christopher C. H. Sin. Hidden Treasures of the Dragon - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collections of Humphrey Hui, Margaret Polak and Christopher C. H. Sin, 1991, p. 113, no. 225.
Kleiner, Robert. Chinese Snuff Bottles - The White Wings Collection, 1997 p. 112, no. 76.
Provenance:
Belfont Co. Ltd.
Exhibited:
Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
Wang Su (1794-1877) was a painter and seal carver from the Yangzhou area. In the book 'Biographies of Seal Carvers', dated 1910, Wang Su's entry was as follows: "alias Xiaomei, a native of Yangzhou skilled in the painting of ladies, figures and flowers". Wang Su was born in 1794 and was still actively painting towards the end of his life. He died in 1877. A local of Yangzhou, he was well-known in the area in the early Daoguang period, although he was always considered a minor painter. It is known that he began painting late in his life and it is more likely that in the early Daoguang period, he was involved in snuff bottle production along with seal carving. Indeed his closing years were spent not in Yangzhou at all, but in Shanghai where he worked as a professional painter.
Wang Su's art name on this bottle is given as Xiaomei, a more standard usage, rather than Xiaomou, the peculiar archaic form which actually appears on his paintings. It is conceivable that a recorded seal carver who painted later in his life would have been in a strong position to be associated with the design and carving of glass snuff bottles.
There are a number of bottles carved with the name Wang Su preceded by the art name Xiaomou, where the seal/characters are stylistically very similar to the seal appearing on his paintings. Several glass bottles with the name Wang Su have been recorded, as have a number with the art name Xiaomei, such as this Crane example. In the above mentioned book, Hidden Treasures of the Dragon, one example is recorded (No. 225) with the inscription: 'Composed by Xiaomei Wang Su from the idea of Liuru Jushi' leaving us in no doubt of the connection. Additionally, some of the bottles are also dated with a cyclical date, the earliest corresponding to 1821 and the latest known to 1836. If the bottle dated 1821 which has his name carved on it was dated sixty years later (1881), Wang Su's death would precede the bottle by four years. While this is a possibility if the school continued after his death, it is unlikely as Wang Su had moved away from Yangzhou in his latter years. It is not entirely clear what Wang Su's association to the commercial production of glass overlay snuff bottles in Yangzhou was. Other 'Wang Su' bottles include the characters 'zuo' (made by) and 'fang' (copied) suggesting some active involvement in the production. A bottle in the Bloch Collection carved in an atypical style bears the word 'wan' and 'Xiaomei', meaning a 'plaything of Xiaomei', which would imply that Wang Su owned the bottle and therefore was a snuff taker, as was Li Junting. Interestingly, bottle No. 73 in the Crane Collection can be compared with bottle No. 225 in 'Hidden Treasures of the Dragon'. Both of the Crane Collection bottles have a very similarly carved playful dog on one side, giving No. 73 also a possible attribution to Wang Su, while the rare use of the clear yellow as an overlay color occurs on No. 73 and No. 225 from 'Hidden Treasures'.