AN ENAMEL ON MILK GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

of meiping shape with a waisted neck, supported on neatly carved circular footrim, finely painted in famille-rose enamels with a continuous scene of peony and prunus sprays against a milky white ground, above a trefoil band around the foot, the collar decorated with pendant foliate scrolls below a puce enamel scrolling vine border at the neck, the recessed base with an apocryphal four-character Qianlong nianzhi mark in blue enamel

Collection of Bob C. Stevens.
Sotheby's New York, 25th June 1982, lot 52.
The Bai Shi Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 22nd November 1988, lot 25.

Detroit Institute of Art, April-October 1986.

Robert Kleiner, Art at Auction, 1981-1982, p. 358, fig. 6.
JICSBS, Autumn 1985, p. 122, fig. 343-343a.

Patrick K. M. Kwok, 'The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles', Arts of Asia, November-December 1993, p. 93, no. 11.
Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York and Tokyo, 1980, no. 947.

in very good overall 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.

Although Ye Bengqi was part of the inside painting studio known as the Apricot Grove Studio, he is perhaps best known for his enamelling skills. The reason for this, of course, lies in his proximity of to the Palace during his training. He was the third son of Ye Zhongsan, who taught him the art of enamelling.

Ye Bengqi studied for at least three years (around 1920), before he began enamelling bottles. He developed his art over the next few years reaching a peak in quality between 1933 and 1943 when his best works were produced. After 1949, he did very little enamelling, although he was responsible for teaching the art to his student, Wang Xisan, who became a master in his own right (see lot 120 in the present sale for an example). The bottles that Ye Bengqi produced were made for commercial purposes and were sold to Beijing dealers, who in turn sold them as 18th century Palace originals.

The comparison of the present bottle to a virtually identical example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 4, no. 4 and dated to the 18th century, has raised some questions about the dating of this bottle. Clare Chu in discussion with Zhang Rong of the Palace Museum in July 2010 discovered that academics at the Museum suspected that their bottle might be of a later date. Further research showed that the Palace Museum acquired a small number of enamel on glass bottles between the years of 1911 and 1949. It is documented that the 'twin' to the present bottle was not originally part of the Palace Collection and came into the Museum in 1946 after it was confiscated along with at least three other bottles by the government from a Beijing antique dealer by the name of Guo Shi Wu. As a result of this discussion, Clare Chu and Zhang Rong believe that both bottles were the work of Ye Bengqi.