AN INSIDE-PAINTED 'HAWK AND MOON' SMOKY CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE, BY YE ZHONGSAN, DATED 1935 China, the bottle ca. 1750-1850, the painting 1935. Depicting a hawk perched on a pine branch, its head raised towards the full moon, the branches encircling the bottle, the reverse with an inscription. Of rectangular form with rounded edges, rising from an oval foot to a straight cylindrical neck, the top slightly concave.

Inscriptions: Top center, signed Ye Zhongsan in the year of yihai (1935), one seal.

Provenance: Hugh Moss Ltd., Hong Kong, 1993. Rachelle R. Holden, New York, acquired from the above. An old collector's label with inventory number '308' to the base. Hugh Moss (b. 1943) is an author, dealer, artist, lifelong collector, and enthusiast of Chinese art, and the foremost authority on Chinese snuff bottles. Rachelle Holden (1934-2020) was a famous collector of snuff bottles. She purchased her first bottle in 1974, finding the art form fascinating as it combined all the classic forms of Chinese art, and would continue to passionately collect them for the rest of her life.
Condition: Superb condition with only minor wear. Minute fleck on exterior of mouth rim.

Stopper: Rose quartz (the metal mount with few minuscule nicks)
Weight: 58.8g
Dimensions: Height including stopper 73 mm. Diameter neck 17 mm and mouth 6 mm.

Ye Zhongsan, from about 1904 onwards, began to take advantage of what we may presume to have been a weakening market for old snuff bottles in the wake of the gradually dying interest in snuff in favor of smoking cigarettes and the political turmoil that attended the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and the collapse of the Qing dynasty, which would follow in 1911. We suddenly see a reasonable number of old agate and crystal bottles where the natural color shades in the material are imaginatively used as the basis for ink-play paintings. The present 'dark' bottle was deliberately chosen by the artist to show the majestic hawk at night, as he gazes at the full moon, which itself is mostly hidden behind a pine tree. It is quite remarkable that it took until the turn of the century for any inside-painting artists to realize the potential in using such materials that were, after all, readily available and, it would seem, crying out for such treatment. It was Ye Zhongsan's use from the early years of the present century onwards that defined this particular branch of the art, and it remained his prerogative throughout his career, being adopted only occasionally by other artists, including Zhou Leyuan. This again seems strange, since once the idea was established, we might have expected other artists to respond more enthusiastically to it. But of course such initial enthusiasm may well have been impeded by the increased challenge of integrating one's personal artwork into an already existing natural environment.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 29 March 2022, lot 51
Price: USD 10,710 or approx. EUR 10,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An inside-painted smokey-quartz snuff bottle, signed Ye Zhongsan, dated 1924



1935年葉仲三内畫“月下松鷹”煙晶鼻烟壺
中國，鼻烟壺可能為清代1750-1850年間，内畫為1935年。描繪一隻棲息在松枝上的鷹，它正回頭望月。松枝環繞整壺，另一面有款識。長方壺形，圓角，圓柱形直頸，壺口略微内凹。

款識：乙亥清和葉仲三作

來源：香港Hugh Moss 藝廊，1993年；紐約Rachelle R. Holden購於上述藝廊。底部可見收藏編號“308”。Hugh Moss (出生於1943) 是一位中國藝術方面的作家、經銷商、藝術家、收藏家，也是中國鼻烟壺界的權威。Rachelle R. Holden（1934-2020年）是著名的中國鼻烟壺收藏家。她於 1974 年購買了她的第一個鼻烟壺，從而發現了鼻烟壺其迷人之處，因為它結合了中國藝術的所有經典形式。之後，她持續不斷地收集鼻烟壺。
品相：品相極好，只有輕微磨損。壺口外緣有微小的斑點。

壺蓋：粉紅石英(托片上有一些細微的劃痕)
重量：58.8克
尺寸：高 （含蓋）73 毫米，頸部直徑17 毫米及壺口直徑6 毫米

大約從 1904 年開始，人們對鼻煙的興趣逐漸消失，轉而吸煙。隨後在 1911 年，葉仲三發現可以利用瑪瑙和水晶等材料自然紋理用於水墨畫作。藝術家特意選擇了如拍品一般的暗色壺，以展示雄鷹在夜間凝視滿月時的雄偉，而滿月本身大多隱藏在一棵松樹後面。值得注意的是，到了世紀之交，內畫藝術家意識到使用這種材料的潛力，而且此類材料很容易取得。正是葉仲三從本世紀初開始，使用並定義了這一特殊的鼻烟壺藝術分支。葉仲三是京派內畫鼻烟壺的大師之一，他所繪的鼻烟壺雅俗共賞，著稱於世。他喜好用鮮豔的色彩畫花鳥人物，筆力嚴謹，畫風蒼勁有力，對人物的神態刻意求工，生動形象。其繪畫流暢生動，顏色塗染規整均勻，讓人不敢相信是繪於內壁之中。

拍賣結果比較：
形制：非常相近
拍賣：紐約佳士得，2022年3月29日，lot 51
價格：USD 10,710（相當於今日EUR 10,000）
描述：1924年葉仲三内畫煙晶鼻烟壺