AN INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK CRYSTAL 'BUDDHIST LIONS' SNUFF BOTTLE Gan Xuanwen, Early School, dated the second year of the Daoguang reign, corresponding to 1822, and of the period Of rounded rectangular form, the body rising from a flat oval base to a cylindrical neck with flat mouth rim, one side finely painted en grisaille on the inside with four furry Buddhist lions at play, the reverse with an inscription, stopper. 5.6cm (2 1/4in) high. (2). Footnotes: 清道光二年（1822） 水晶内畫犬圖詩文鼻煙壺 Provenance: Sotheby's London, 11 October 1974, lot 41 Trudy and John Cohen, collection no.B62 Published and Illustrated: A.O.Blishen OBE, 'Early inside Painted Snuff Bottles by Kan Huan-wen', in The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Journal, December 1974, p.13, figs.6 and 7 來源：倫敦蘇富比，1974年10月11日，拍品編號41 Trudy及John Cohen伉儷，藏品編號B62 著錄：大英帝國勛章獲封者 A.O.Blishen ，《Early inside Painted Snuff Bottles by Kan Huan-wen》，《The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Journal》，1974年12月，第13頁，插圖6和7 Gan Xuanwen (active early nineteenth century) was among the founders of the Lingnan School in Guangzhou and belongs to the 'Early School' of inside-painted snuff bottles. Although best known for his inside-painted crystal snuff bottles, a surviving painting in the collection of the Chinese University of Hong Kong attests to his broader status as a painter. The subject of the present lot recurs in his snuff bottles, likely for its auspicious symbolism: five (wu 五) lions (shi 獅) at play form a pun on the phrase wushi qichang, expressing the wish that five generations may live together in harmony. The inscription is a poem by Song dynasty minister and poet Kou Zhun (961-1023), who allegedly was, as a young child, so moved by the view on the Hua Mountain that he composed his Ode to Huashan. The inscription reads: 只有天在上，更無山與齊，舉頭紅日近，回首白雲低，道光二年秋九月 Which may be translated as: Only heaven lies above, no mountain can compare, Raising my head, the red sun seems near; looking back, the white clouds drift below. Ninth month of the second year of the Daoguang reign The two seals at the end are intended as decorative seals, without specific meaning. Their use, common in the Lingnan School, attests to the literati influence on the School's oeuvre. An inside-painted crystal 'Buddhist Lions' snuff bottle painted by Gan Xuanwen, early 19th century, is illustrated by H.Moss, V.Tsang and K.B.Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol.4, Hong Kong, 2000, no.451, and was later sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 25 May 2014, lot 1069. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing