AN INSCRIBED OVERLAY GLASS ‘CAT AND BUTTERFLY’ SNUFF BOTTLE, BY WANG SU, YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1820-1840

AN INSCRIBED OVERLAY GLASS 'CAT AND BUTTERFLY' SNUFF BOTTLE, BY WANG SU, YANGZHOU SCHOOL, CHINA, 1820-1840
Inscriptions:
To the front, upper right, 'Xiaomou' (Little Prunus).
The flattened bottle of rounded rectangular form, superbly carved through the outer olive-brown layer to the translucent milky-white body to one side with a cat seated on a pierced craggy rock beside flowering chrysanthemum, the feline looking up at two butterflies fluttering above. The other side is similarly decorated with sprays of bamboo springing from rockwork. Both sides are separated by sprigs of grass on the shoulders. The front is carved with a three-character inscription.
Provenance:
Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd., London, United Kingdom, 2010. A private collection in the United Kingdom, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd., dated 30 June 2010, confirming the signature of Wang Su and dating above, and stating the purchase price for the present lot of GBP 5,000 or approx.
EUR 10,000
(converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies this lot. Robert Kleiner (1948-2014) was an important expert of Chinese snuff bottles, beginning his long career at Sotheby's in London. Along with Hugh Moss and Bob Hall, he became a key advisor to the Mary and George Bloch collection, and it was Robert who wrote and produced the very first catalog of their bottles.The base lacquered with two old collector's inscriptions, '137' and 'JBO'.
Condition:
Superb condition with minimal surface wear, light scratches, and manufacturing irregularities.
Stopper: Glass in imitation of coral
Weight: 39.5 g
Dimensions: Height incl. stopper 75 mm, Diameter neck 14 mm and mouth 6 mm
Wang Su
(1794-1877) was a prominent literatus and painter from the Yangzhou area. Very few snuff bottles are actually signed by the artist, who preferred to use the seal 'Xiaomei' ('Little Prunus'), which he always used on his paintings as well. On one documentary bottle in a Hong Kong collection, both names appear together: 'Xiaomei, Wang Su' (see JICSBS, Spring 2001, page 23, fig. 26). Wang Su was also an accomplished seal carver. He seems to have lived his life in Yangzhou, was a professional painter who achieved a level of fame early in life, and probably was able to commission snuff bottles with his name on them. The earliest dated Xiaomei-signed bottle was made in 1821 (JICSBS Spring 2011, page 23, fig. 29), when he was in his late twenties and beginning to be known locally. He became more widely known and acknowledged as an artist only later in his career.
Cats and butterflies
are symbols of longevity. The cat (mao) is a homonym for 'seventy', while the butterfly (die) shares the same sound as 'eighty'. Together, they form a rebus for maodie. This term implies that one would live to be seventy or eighty - considered high age in ancient China.
Literature comparison:
Wang Su's name appears on a small group of bottles from the Li Junting School, including one in the Bloch Collection, illustrated Hugh Moss, Victor Graham, and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Glass, no. 1046. Compare another snuff bottle by Wang Su, illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Previous Playthings: Important Chinese Snuff Bottles From the Mack Collection, 2000, no. 34.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 25 May 2011, lot 63
Price: HKD 120,000 or approx.
EUR 19,500
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An inscribed olive-brown glass overlay 'hunter and fisherman' snuff bottle, Sun Shihua, probably Yangzhou, 1807-1867
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, color with similar olive-brown overlay on milky-white ground, and manner of carving. Note the size (68 mm) and the different inscription.
Update 25.9.2023:
The design on the present bottle is likely based on a subject found in a Qing Huapu - a painting manual - from the second half of the 19th century in which Wang Su's works appears . The painter Wang Su himself was, however, not the carver who made the present lot, as once believed.
1820-1840
年王素涅白地套料耄耋鼻煙壺
扁平壺，溜肩，修長，涅白地套橄欖棕色料，精美地雕刻著一隻貓，坐在盛開的菊花旁邊的假山上，貓抬頭看著上面飛舞的兩隻蝴蝶。另一面也裝飾著竹子和山石。
款識：
小某作
來源：
英國倫敦Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd.，2010 年；英國私人收藏，購自上述藝廊。隨附Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd. 於 2010 年 6 月 30 日開具的原始發票副本，確認拍品出自王素，並註明的購買價格為 5,500 英鎊或約 10,000 歐元（在撰寫本文時已根據通貨膨脹進行換算和調整）。
品相：
狀況極佳，表面磨損、輕微劃痕和製造不規則。
壺蓋：仿珊瑚料器
重量：39.5 克
尺寸：總高75 毫米，頸部直徑14 毫米，壺口 6 毫米
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