PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION A Fine Inside-Painted Glass bottleSigned Yan Yutien and dated Yiwei year corresponding to 1895 Of slender rectangular shape, finely painted in black ink and tones of sepia to one side with a tapering straight-sided jardinière with pierced rockwork and chrysanthemum, a smaller bronze vessel on stand with flowers, possibly orchids and a cricket atop a bamboo cricket cage and cover, the other side with a spring willow with three cicada's in the branches and small flowering plant behind, possibly orchid and a short inscription and seal. 2 3/8in (6cm) high, stopper, box 玻璃内繪秋景鼻烟壺 閆玉田乙未年款 According to Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 4, Part 2, Inside Painted , Hong Kong, 2000, p. 458, no. 612, Yan Yutian lived and painted in the same Chongwen district of Beijing as the Ye family, as relayed to him by Ye Bengqi in 1974, who he remembered from his younger days. His earliest dated work appears to be a single bottle of 1894. The authors note that over sixty were produced the following year, 1895, the year of our bottle. The authors illustrate two bottles each dated to 1895, one painted with a vegetal scene with cabbage leaves and chrysanthemum blooms, the other with a landscape scene, pp.466-467, no. 616 and pp.470-471, no. 618, respectively and further discuss Yan Yutian's artistic development.