Bonhams 1793 : An inside-painted rock-crystal 'eight horses of Mu Wang' snuff bottle Ye Zhongsan, dated 1926

24 Nov 2012 10:00 CST Hong Kong
The Paul Braga Collection of Snuff Bottles
Back to auction 20524

An inside-painted rock-crystal 'eight horses of Mu Wang' snuff bottle

Ye Zhongsan, dated 1926
The body of compressed globular form rising to a cylindrical neck, the interior painted with eight horses of different breeds, seven of which on the body amongst tree shrubs and one above the oval ringed foot, the upper right corner with inscriptions, signature and painted seal mark of the artist.
5.9cm high.

Sold for HK$ 112,500 inc. premium

Footnotes

Illustrated:
Bob Stevens, Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, p.244, pl.886 and 887

The eight horses here represent an historical legend in which King Mu in the Western Zhou period looked for horses that could run fast to bring the King to visit his territories. At the end, he found eight horses, all with different colour hair, and he rode them to meet the Queen Mother of the West. For another similar example painted by the same artist, see Inkplay in Microcosm: Inside-Painted Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Humphrey K. F. Hui Collection, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Art Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, no.87.

The inscription translates as "presenting to Uncle Wang Zhongxian with honour, Ye Zhongsan painted in the mid-spring of guihai year (1926)". Wang Zhongxian (1888-1937) of Anhui was a drama writer active in the late Qing and early Republican period. He established a new drama troupe during the 1911 revolution and published the first monthly drama magazine of China in 1919. Afterwards, he joined various drama troupes and become an editor. His famous literature included "Good children' etc. As shown from the inscription, Ye had a very close relationship with people who worked in the theatre industry in his period.

1926年葉仲三水晶內畫穆王八駿鼻煙壺

出版:
Bob Stevens, Snuff Bottles, 紐約, 1976年, 頁244, 圖版887

壺呈平扁瓶形，微鼓，滑肩，修足，橢圓形圈足。內畫通境畫七匹駿馬在淺灘上休息，駿馬比例準繩，各種姿態，佈局清雅，壺底又畫一匹駿馬，別出心裁，上題「仲賢汪世叔大人雅玩，子漸奉。癸亥(1926)孟春，葉仲三作。」，下繪「印」白文橢圓形印。

此壺表現了穆王八駿這題材，西周穆王為了在他臨終前能看到他所擁有的版圖，四處找千里馬，最後找了八匹駿馬，它們顏色不同，奔馳勁走，最終穆王更乘它們西遊見西王母，故一般此畫題皆有美好寓意。其他葉仲三內畫穆王八駿鼻煙壺，可參考香港中文大學文物館，《壺中墨妙:誦先芬室藏內畫鼻煙壺》，香港，2002，編號87。

汪仲賢(1888-1937)，安徽婺源人，清末民初活躍在上海劇作家、作家，在辛亥革命期間組成新劇團，在五四時期合創了第一本專門有關戲劇的刊物《戲劇》月刊。後加入不同戲劇協社及當上編輯，著名作有《優游室劇談》、《惱人春色》及《好兒子》等。在此鼻煙壺中，葉仲三以世叔專稱汪仲賢，可見葉仲三與當時戲劇界的交往甚密。