AN INSIDE-PAINTED CRYSTAL 'EUROPEAN LADY' SNUFF BOTTLE ATTRIBUTED TO GAN XUANWEN, QING DYNASTY, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Christie’s New York, 29th November 1990, lot 117.

Robert Kleiner, Boda Yang, and Clarence F. Shangraw, Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 292.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-1995.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 4, Hong Kong, 2000, no. 462.

One part of the edge of the lip polished flat to remove a chip, bruise to the foot with small attendant chip, similar slight bruise and chip at the base of one foot panel.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

There are four known portraits either by or attributable to Gan Xuanwen. This one is sensibly attributable to Gan, although not without any shadow of doubt, based on similarities in style and brushwork to a portrait of a European sailor that is painted on a bottle with an unquestionable Gan Xuanwen landscape. Were it not for this link, one might be more puzzled by this bottle. The signature is not known to have been used elsewhere by Gan, but Jiren is a common name and courtesy name and could belong to whoever authored the inscription.

Other reasons to attribute these two portraits to Gan are the shape of the crystal bottle, the clerical-script calligraphy, and the encomium on snuff, all of which are typical of Gan. He was obviously a keen snuff-taker and connoisseur, and presumably a collector of snuff bottles as well as a painter of them, since most wealthy literati who snuffed also collected a number of bottles, often received as gifts. Many of his inscriptions (whether he composed them himself or not) refer to the snuff bottles and the snuff in which he clearly took such delight. This one is no exception:

玉壺霏霏貯黃雪，慧根即從妙香心。

The jade bottle contains a blizzard of brown snow;
Wisdom will come with its wondrous fragrant heart.

‘Jade’ here functions as a stock epithet indicating a precious bottle made of fine material. The yellow-brown snow is, of course, snuff. The Buddhist term for ‘wisdom’ used in the second line refers to the fifth of the five faculties that form the roots of enlightenment (the others are belief, persistence, mindfulness, and concentration). ‘Wondrous fragrant heart’ is a bit more difficult to pin down, but here the idea might be that wisdom will arise in the heart-mind (xin 心) that has become fragrant because of the snuff.