AN IMPORTANT RED OVERLAY GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

of flattened circular form, overlaid in red on a densely bubble-suffused transparent ground, carved on one face with a man observing a female Immortal seated on a tiger beneath a leafy tree growing from rockwork and a seal inscription in raised relief, and on the other with a boy trying to lead a scholar's donkey across a bridge beneath a willow tree, an oval seal to the right side

Kardos Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 1st July 1985, lot 19.

Vancouver Centennial Museum, October 1977, illustrated in the Catalogue.

Mary Morrison, 'Snuff Bottle Exhibition in Vancouver', Arts of Asia, January-February 1978, pp. 88-93, no. 20.
Robert Kleiner, 'Saleroom News. Chinese Sales at Sotheby's', Arts of Asia, November-December 1985, p. 134.
Clare Lawrence, 'An Analysis of the Seal School Group of Glass Snuff Bottles', JICSBS, Summer 1993, pp. 4-17, fig. 41.
Patrick K. M. Kwok, 'The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles', Arts of Asia, November-December 1993, pp. 92-97, no. 15.
Vanessa F. Holden, 'The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles', Oriental Art, 2002, Volume 48, No. 4, pp. 65-72, figs. 12 & 13.

There is a tiny chip to the tip of one leafy branch on the flowering tree. There is a slightly less than 1/8 inch burst airbubble on one shoulder. Otherwise in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This bottle is one of three known bearing the name 'Yunting' which Hugh Moss attributes to Li Junting. In each case 'Yunting' appears from the context of the inscription to refer to the recipient of the bottle and Moss makes the argument that 'Yunting' is either an alternate name for 'Junting' and that the bottles were carved by Li Junting for his own use, or that 'Yunting' may be the name of a brother to whom the bottles were given. A full discussion of the above appears in Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 2002, Volume 5, Part 3, pp. 722-4 and pp. 727-8 where the two other 'Yunting' bottles, one of which is also dated 1819, are illustrated, nos. 1022 and 1024. The present bottle is also discussed by Clare Chu in www.thecranecollection.com, under bottle no. 129. There are only four Yangzhou School bottles presently documented carved with red overlay on a snowflake or bubbly ground, all of which are of the highest level of carving and design, but it is only this bottle which bears a cyclical date. The cyclical date on the present bottle was formerly ascribed to 1879 but has been re-dated to 1819 in line with a general re-dating of the 'Yangzhou School' bottles to the late 18th and first half 19th century, first put forward in Clare Lawrence, 'An Analysis of the Seal School Group of Glass Snuff Bottles', JICSBS, Summer 1993, pp. 4-17, fig. 41, and now generally accepted by snuff bottle scholars. The four red overlay bottles with their 'Beijing-style' glass emphasize that glass-making could not have occurred in Yangzhou and that the commercial lapidaries must have brought in glass from other areas of China such as Boshan.

The inscription can be translated as: 'Seeing the beauty as if seeing a tiger. Curio of Yunting, made in the year of yimao.'