Two Snuff Bottles with the Design of the Fish Swimming in the Pond made by Ye Zhongsan
Qing dynasty
Height: 5.2cm
Diameter at the bottom: 2cm
Diameter of the mouth: 1.9cm
Collected in 1959 from Hunan Provincial Cultural Relics Administration Commission
These two snuff bottles are a pair of jar-shaped container painted with the design of lotus flowers and swimming fish. The painting is full of vitality and bright colors. The lotus flowers stand aloof while the fish are frolicking among the weed. The different shades regarding the depiction of the lotus flowers reflected the effect of the light. The veins of the lotus leaves are vividly depicted. Great attention has been paid to the details, which reflect the exquisite skills of the painter. At the lower part of the painting are two goldfish, one in black while the other in red, which bring about vividness to the whole picture. At the upper part of the bottle is inscribed with “December, 1906, with the oval-shaped seal of Ye Zhongsan”. What’s more, the “lotus” and the “year” share similar pronunciation in Chinese while the “fish” and “abundance” share the same pronunciation. Therefore, the meaning embodied in this painting is that “It is hoped that every year will be blessed with an abundant harvest.”
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About the Artist Ye Zhongsan
Ye Zhongsan (1869--1945), was a great inside painting master at the end of Qing dynasty. Ye Zhongsan, Zhou Leyuan and Ma Shaoxuan were the three representatives of the Beijing Painting School. Ye Zhongsan was influenced by Zhou Leyuan in terms of painting landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings. As for paintings centering on other themes, Ye Zhongsan drew heavily from the illustrations in The Record of the Three Kingdoms, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, and The Dream of the Red Mansion. Later, he established his own distinctive style. Wang Xisan, the founder of the Hebei School of Inside Painting and the bearer of the traditions of Ye Zhongsan’s paintings, put it well when he said: “The figures painted by Ye Zhongsan are of the following features: the lines are very vivid; the colors are very bright and in great contrast; the eyebrow is like the willow leaf; the eye is like the apricot core and the mouth is like the cherry.”
Generally speaking, the themes embodied in Ye Zhongsan’s paintings were diverse. The paintings were full of vitality and close to the lives of the ordinary people. Therefore, they were popular with the public. Moreover, Ye Zhongsan spent many years on painting and had many disciples who followed him, hence, bringing about great influence on the development of the inside painting craft. He was regarded as one of the four greatest inside painting masters of the late Qing dynasty.
Gourd-shaped snuff bottle, collected by the Palace Museum, Beijing
