1897年 周鴻來刻瓷胎「竹間幽亭」圖鼻煙壺 《時光緒丁酉仲春》 《周鴻來刻於泉唐客舍》款

紐約蘇富比1996年9月17日，編號224
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd，1996年9月

洛杉磯佳士得，2003年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷6，香港，2007年，編號1441

Bottle: Three glaze bubbles filled with dirt, one incorporated into the leaves of the bamboo. Glaze on the base does not cover it entirely, leaving some buscuit showing through. Otherwise in good condition. Engraving: 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. 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."

Zhou Honglai (also known as Yanbin, and Yanbin jushi) was among the best and most influential of the micro-engravers of the late Qing period. Glass was his favoured material, but there are other engraved porcelain bottles by him that are of a similar form (see Sale 4, lot 26 and Jutheau 1980, p. 95, which is also illustrated in Snuff Bottles of the Ch’ing Dynasty1978, no. 244). Zhou was a scholar who took to decorating snuff bottles; dated works by him recorded so far cover the period from 1895 to 1909. Because they sometimes include an era name along with the cyclical date, there is no trouble zeroing in on his active years.

Here Zhou locates himself at a guest house in Quantang in 1897; as we noted in Sale 4, lot 21, Quantang is an old name for Hangzhou.

As mentioned in Treasury 6, Ruichen was the courtesy name of Baoxi 寶熙 (1871 – 1931), a jinshi of 1892 who was a bibliophile and official in Beijing. However, Ruichen was also the name of Zou Ruichen 鄒瑞臣, a doctor who appears in the diary of the statesman and diplomat Guo Songtao 郭嵩燾 (1818 – 1891) along with a correspondent of Guo, Zhou Xiaoxuan 周肖軒. There is no information about Zhou Xiaoxuan, but if he and Zou Ruichen both knew Guo Songtao, they may have been acquainted, and Zhou Xiaoxuan may well have commissioned Zhou Honglai to carve this bottle as a gift to Zou Ruichen.

Zhou Honglai’s rendition of the famous gathering at the Orchid Pavilion on this bottle calls to mind landscapes made famous by the Yuan-dynasty painter, Ni Zan 倪瓚(1306 – 1374), whose works are often designed with a sparse group of trees close to an open pavilion in the foreground and typically devoid of human presence, to show his disdain for human society and his penchant for cleanliness. Zhou’s choice in following Ni Zan’s sparse brushwork and composition no doubt enhances the intellectual flavour inherent in this bottle.

For a translation of the Preface, see Sale 1, lot 28.