AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Attributed to Ye Zhongsan
Dated jihai year, corresponding to 1899
Painted in muted blue, brown, beige and red tones with a continuous scene of robed figures near a building with bamboo, looking up at a vision of a figure seated in a small boat amidst clouds above trees and rockwork; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.5cm) high
Footnotes:
己亥年（1899） 傳葉仲三 玻璃内畫聊齋故事鼻烟壺

Provenance:
Robert C. Eldred, 16 November 1991, lot 528

Exhibited:
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 48

Ye Zhongsan was perhaps the most important follower of Zhou Leyuan. His earliest bottles are dated to 1892 and his works and subjects vary greatly. For other examples of Ye bottles dated to 1899 and 1900 using a very similar mix of muted blues, grays and beiges, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 4, Part 1, Inside Painted, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 226-234, no's. 519-522.

For another Ye bottle dated 1899, see Bonhams, Hong Kong, 27 May 2012, lot 82.