AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Ye Zhongsan, 1908
Of rectangular form with a cylindrical neck and an oval footrim, each side with raised panels, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with on one main side a scene of a couple being greeted at the door of a thatched building by two figures, the reverse with a winter snow scene of a lady wearing a wide-brimmed hat with her attendant carrying a vase of blossoming prunus branches, one narrow side with a dragonfly flitting above lotus leaves, flowers and pods, the reverse side with a swallow in flight above flowering peonies, signed Ye Zhongsan with one red seal and dated, the rectangular base painted with a fan-tailed carp and minnows swimming among aquatic waterweeds; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.6cm) high
Footnotes:
戊申年（1908） 葉仲三 玻璃内畫人物故事鼻煙壺一件
《葉仲三》款

Provenance:
Mattoon M. Curtis collection of snuff bottles and snuff boxes
Donated to Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland in 1941
Eldred's Auction Gallery, 2000
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 312

Exhibited:
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD., September 30–December 9, 2018

Ye Zhongsan is seen at his best in this delightfully well-painted bottle. It was around 1908 that Ye was painting fishes, in particular fan-tailed carp, goldfish and minnows. The 'surprise' of this bottle is that he decorated, not only the four sides, but also the base with a goldfish and minnows swimming among aquatic waterweeds. Unusually, his signature and the date is on one of the narrow side panels. Mattoon M. Curtis was one of the early writers about snuff bottles, including them in his book, The Book of Snuff and Snuff Boxes, published in 1935.

The inner mouth is slightly polished, and there is some slight snuff staining to the interior.