Bottle ID: 00073

< Previous page

WHITE W/YELLOW OVERLAY, SEAL SCHOOL, SEATED LADY

Date: 1780-1850

Height: 52 mm

Glass, of rounded form with the shoulders sloping to a slightly everted mouth, carved in clear amber-yellow on a milk-white ground, with on one side the female immortal, Lancaihe, with a basket of flowers seated in a tree boat with an oarsman and a stork perched on the brow, beneath the four characters: san qian nian shou '3,000 years of longevity'; the reverse with a boy riding a cart drawn by a water buffalo and a small dog skipping beside him; on one shoulder a moon-shaped mock handle and the opposite shoulder with a small bat.
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 K. F. Hui, Margaret Polak and Christopher C. H. Sin, 1991, p. 111, no. 222.
Kleiner, Robert.  Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, 1999, p. 145, no. 125 and p. 150, no. 130.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Hugh Moss [HK] Ltd.
Paula Hallett

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

The Yangzhou School of carving was a commercial enterprise and as such, there was a myriad of colors and combinations used in the production of these bottles.  Very few examples exist in this delicate color combination of a clear amber-yellow over the classic milk-white ground and it may be that only one or two blocks of this color were ever acquired by the carvers at Yangzhou.  Bottle No. 225, signed 'Xiaomei Wangsu' in 'Hidden Treasures of the Dragon', although a multi-colored overlay, uses the clear yellow as an overlay color for the inscriptions on the sides and also as part of the main design.  There is no evidence that glass was ever made in Yangzhou, only that it was carved there.  It is likely that this color was either deemed not saleable enough by the carvers or that it was too difficult or expensive to obtain. 
In recognition of that, the subject matter is highly unusual for the School, despite the fact that the first similar example cited above also has an immortal on one side and a chariot (or cart) on the other.  It is likely that the same carver produced all of these bottles at the same time, intent on honing his skill at carving immortals and wheels!  The unique characteristic of a moon and a bat on the shoulders is a quirky, but charming, postscript to the design of this Crane bottle. 
For a discussion of Wang Su, see No. 473 in this collection where the above bottle is compared stylistically to a bottle signed by Wang Su.  Both of these bottles have a very similarly carved playful dog on one side, which together with the use of the yellow color, gives Crane No. 73 a possible attribution to Wang Su.

 

< Back to full list