B63

Quartz, crystal, painted inside in ink and colour with a continuous aquatic scene of a fan-tailed carp swimming amongst lotus.

Chinese, middle school, dated 1896
Signed: Zhu Zhanyuan, (Henen province)
Stopper: Coral
Provenance: Sotheby's 1976
Height: 4.9cm

Zhu Zhanyuan's work is rare and difficult to find, many collections do not have an example of his work at all.  It is possible that he painted under different names, although little fits in with the style of this signed work, although one is illustrated in 'A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection' by Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, Volume 4, part 2, number 625.

A remarkable painting when one appreciates how little space there was to work in. This was once just a very poorly hollowed double bottle.