1888年 周樂元作水晶內畫煙梅傲寒圖鼻煙壺 《戊子樂元畫 》款

永興行，香港，1985年

Robert Kleiner，《Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch》，大英博物館，倫敦，1995年，編號379
《Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch》，以色列博物館，耶路撒冷，1997年
倫敦佳士得，1999年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷4，香港，2000年，編號477

Two minute chips to the outer lip and two chips on the top of the neck. One appears to have been smoothed out. Painting: Some areas of slight wear to the gold wash and blossoms on the prunus. Spoon scratches in the gold wash on the back.
"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."

The intent of washing the interior of this bottle with gold paint was to create the impression of painting on gold paper. There is a long-standing tradition within the literati aesthetic of using gold paper, or gold-speckled paper in some cases, for painting. This mode of painting was rarely transferred to the inside of a snuff bottle, however; indeed, this is the only known pre-modern example, presumably for the good reason that such treatment was hardly necessary, since filling the bottle with the standard yellowish-brown varieties of snuff would have a rather similar effect.

Of one thing  one can be reasonably sure: Zhou himself added the gold ground. Absent from this landscape is any of his usual strong blue or green colouring for the trees, foliage, and distant mountains. Other than for the figures, where strong blue is used for their robes, the painting is done mostly just in ink tones with only the slightest trace of very pale blue washes on the trees and mountains. It seems inconceivable that Zhou would have painted his only monochrome landscape had he not intended to gild it.

The inscription comes from a poem on a painting of ‘misty prunus’ (yanmei 煙梅), by Chen Wei 陳烓 (1449 – 1527). The entire poem is quoted here; the last two lines are what appear on the bottle.

天與孤高第一花，卻從幽谷作生涯。歲寒喜見春風面，漫遣疏煙故故遮。

Heaven has given us the Number One flower, lofty in its solitude;
But it lives out its life in a secluded valley.
In the cold season I am happy to see its lovely spring-breeze face;
Don’t send the thin mists to purposely cover it over! 

Zhou seems to have felt no particular inhibitions about the depiction of vessels from the ancient material culture, often changing them whimsically for his own artistic ends. A similarly eccentric ‘ancient vessel’ is seen on Sale 2, lot 49.

The unusual shape of the neck on this bottle is certainly due to damage. It has been ground down a bit, making it unusually narrow for a bottle that is otherwise of a reasonably standard form. It has been very well done, however, by someone with a rather creative approach to the overall problem of repairing damage. Instead of simply grinding out whatever chips there were, the carver has completely remodelled the whole neck, giving it a waisted profile so that it flares at the top. This gives the impression that it might originally have had a different type of neck, and makes the shape look much more comfortable and natural. It may, indeed, have had a narrower neck, even before the damage. The hollowing at the shoulders is unusual for the standard form against which it is being compared. There is a considerably greater depth of glass left inside at the shoulders than is usual, suggesting the possibility that the bottle might have started life as a more eccentric form in any case.

The single large seal on this bottle is difficult to read with any certainty, but is clarified by the similar and more legible seal that appears on Sale 8, lot 1096.