Footnotes

• Treasury 4, no. 475
  
  玻璃內畫蟲子奇石圖鼻煙壺
  周樂元，藕香書軒，宣南房舍，北京，1887年作
  
  An inside-painted 'insects and rocks' snuff bottle
  
  Glass, ink, and watercolours; with a slightly concave lip and recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding rounded footrim; painted on one main side with a grasshopper and a bee beside a jagged rock growing with foliage and flowers, and on the other main side with auspicious objects (a natural rock sculpture, a vase with ring handles containing flowering prunus branches, a jardinière with calamus, and a tripod water vessel with a spoon in it), inscribed in draft script '[Executed] in the autumn of the year dinghai [by] Zhou Leyuan,' with one illegible seal of the artist
  Zhou Leyuan, The Studio of Lotus-root Fragrance, Xuannan, Beijing, autumn, 1887
  Height: 5.95 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.55/1.58 cm
  Stopper: tourmaline; vinyl collar
  
  Condition: Bottle: Barely imperceptible chip on inner lip; tiny chip on foot rim, partially smoothed out; minor abrasions from use; otherwise, workshop condition.
  Painting: studio condition
  
  Provenance:
  Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 6 April 1972, lot 260
  Marty Klinger
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1985)
  
  Published:
  Treasury 4, no. 475
  
  Exhibited:
  Christie's, London, 1999
  
  The years 1887 through 1890 represent Zhou's own Blue Period. This does not mean that he entirely abandoned the use of green during this period, but it is characterized by the extensive use of blue. Thereafter, there was a more even balance between his use of green and blue for foliage, including the ground-cover on distant hills and mountains. On the side with auspicious objects, even the vase is a pale blue colour, while the calamus grass, green in real life, is emphatically blue. On the other main side, the grasshopper and foliage are in a similar colour, despite the fact that a grasshopper is not blue in real life. Zhou returned, although not exclusively, to green foliage after 1890, but to the end of his career he interspersed the more standard green landscapes with those in a blue palette, often mixing the two.
  
  玻璃內畫蟲子奇石圖鼻煙壺
  
  玻璃，墨，水彩；微凹唇，凸斂底，突出圈足，圈足底為一圓棱； 一面內畫蟲子奇石圖，反面內畫清供圖，題曰"歲在丁亥之秋，周樂元"，後加字跡模糊之印
  周樂元，藕香書軒，宣南房舍，北京，1887年秋
  高﹕ 5.95 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.55/1.58 厘米
  蓋﹕ 碧璽；乙烯基座
  
  狀態敘述：壺﹕唇內緣有幾乎看不的見的缺口，圈足有半磨平的細小缺口；經過歲月的運用以後，呈微小擦傷；此外，出坊狀態。 內畫﹕出齋狀態
  
  來源:
  Sotheby Parke Bernet, 紐約, 1972年4月6日, 拍賣品號 260
  Marty Klinger
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1985)
  
  文獻﹕
  Treasury 4, 編號 475
  
  展覽﹕
  倫敦佳士得，1999年
  
  從 1887 年到1890 年是周樂元的"藍色時期"，（比畢加索的藍色時期的開端早十年）。那不是說他完全遺棄了綠色，但他多用藍色。本壺是很好的例子。1890年以後，他復用綠色了，可是他後來還有偏愛藍色的傾向。

---

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

---

Auction terms and conditions