AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS 'INSECTS AND TREES' SNUFF BOTTLE Sun Xingwu, 1895PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF KIM GREENAN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS 'INSECTS AND TREES' SNUFF BOTTLESun Xingwu, 1895Of elongated, rectangular form with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck with flat lip and standing on a carved oval footrim, the interior of the bottle very well painted with ink and watercolors, one side with a cricket perched on a grassy bank under an overhanging willow tree beside rocks and flowers, the reverse with a continuation of the scene with a cicada hanging on a willow branch, with minnows swimming in the water below, the inscription reading: 'Beneath the willow tree a cricket is singing, painted by Sun Xingwu in the winter month of 1895,' together with one red seal.2 1/2in (6.4cm) high乙未 (1895) 孫星五 玻璃内畫柳下蟬鳴圖鼻煙壺一件《孫星五》款Provenance:Speelman Collection Vanessa Holden, March 21, 1999 Kim Green collection no. 52Little is known about Sun Xingwu (1894-1900). In the seven years of his painting (taken from surviving dated bottles), he painted almost one hundred bottles. Beijing is given on some of the examples as the location of his studio, and he almost certainly would have known both Zhou Leyuan and Ma Shaoxuan whose styles are evident in Sun's work. This bottle is unusual for his work depicting subject matter not often painted by him.