AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Zhou Leyuan, 1886
Of flattened, rectangular form with a cylindrical neck and an oval footrim, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with on one main side a pair of long-tailed crested birds singing in a blossoming tree, the reverse with a mountainous landscape with fisherman in his sampan on a river between towering rocks and trees overhanging the water, one narrow side with a dedication reading Zihang xiansheng daren shu (for the honorable Mr. Zihang), signed Zhou Leyuan followed with one seal painted in red, the other side dated bingxu xiafu (the summer of year 1886); stopper.
2 5/8in (6.7cm) high
Footnotes:
丙戌年（1886）周樂元 玻璃内畫漁夫獨釣鼻煙壺一件
《周樂元》款

Provenance:
Eldred's Auction Gallery, August 1999
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 303

Exhibited:
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD., September 30–December 9, 2018

Zhou Leyuan was originally a painter of lanterns. His first dated inside-painted snuff bottle was finished in 1879 and presently resides in the Crane Collection (www.thecranecollection.com, no. 902). Its level of sophistication is remarkable, displaying both the calligraphic talent of the artist and his knowledge of ancient literati works. By 1886 his early style was well established and evolving. The acceptance of Zhou as the master of the Beijing School is well-illustrated by masterful bottles such as this one where the two scenes on each main side are left uncluttered by any calligraphy; the inscriptions being written down the narrow sides of the bottle.

Some outer mouth frits on one side, and minor pigment loss to the side with the long-tailed bird