AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Ye Zhongsan, 1915
Of flattened, rounded form with a cylindrical neck and a neatly carved oval footrim, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with a continuous scene of the Seven Scholars of the Bamboo Grove at leisure, in a rocky mountainous landscape, on one main side sitting reading and conversing beside a massive rock and bamboo, the reverse with a scholar beside a rock walking across a wooden bridge, towards the group with his attendant carrying a scroll, signed Ye Zhongsan with one red seal, yin and dated; stopper.
2 1/4in (5.8cm) high
Footnotes:
乙卯年（1915） 葉仲三 玻璃内畫竹林七賢鼻煙壺一件
《葉仲三》款

Provenance:
Jade House, October 1985
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 30

The quality of the painting in this bottle indicates that it was Ye Zhongsan and not one of his sons who produced this piece. Often Ye chose older bottles to paint inside but this example shows that using a bottle contemporary to the painting was a choice that Ye made to suit the subject matter.

The neck of this bottle is slightly reduced. There are very minor internal scratches to this finely painted bottle.