The glass bottle having tapered oval shaped body, short cylindrical straight neck, raised on a slightly footed oval base, with red domed lid. The bottle decorated with intrigue reverse hand painting depicted female figurine and a mythical creature within garden landscape, showing themed calligraphy inscription on top left followed by the artist's iron-red signature seal, alternately on other side, showing a figurine riding a donkey with two mythical creatures servants within landscape.

Dimension:75.82mm H x 49.1mm W.
Total weight: 112.13g

The Sale Will Benefit IFGF Church of Atlanta

LOT NOTES:
These delightful scenes are only an inch or two high and are painted while manipulating the brush through the neck of the bottle maybe only a quarter inch across, and also painted in reverse. Ursula Bourne, in her treatise on snuff, suggests that artisans painted on their backs to make it easier to work through the narrow opening. It has been said that a skilled artist may complete a simple bottle in a week while something special may take a month or more and that the best craftsmen will produce only a few bottles in a year.

The earliest inside painted bottles are thought to have been made in the period between 1820 and 1830 as, by then, the beauty of a snuff bottle was probably more important than utilitarian considerations and considering this few would have been used for holding snuff. Inside painted bottles are still made today expensively for collectors and inexpensively as souvenirs.

Like other types of snuff bottle, the range of subject matter used on inside painted bottles is without limit. There are scenes, fish, birds, poems, even portraits. They are testament to the skill and inventiveness of Chinese craftsmen and are intended to be viewed as a miniature painting within the bottle.

lid have missing spoon. Otherwise, in excellent condition.

The bidder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the condition of the item(s) meets with their satisfaction prior to bidding. Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, and is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. EDEN Galleries shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.