AN INSIDE-PAINTED ‘LOTUS AND SCHOLAR’S ROCK’ SNUFF BOTTLE

Finely painted in pale watercolors and black ink to one side with lotus blossoms and leaves blowing in the wind below a short inscription and to the other with a scholar’s rock, a vase with flowering prunus branches, a jardinière, and a kettle.

Inscriptions: To one side, ‘Yinxiu shanfang Zhuren qingshang Gengyin shouxia Zhou Leyuan you’ (Curiosity by the scholar of the Yinxiu Shanfang Studio). In the summer of Gengyin year [corresponding to 1890]. One large seal. Stopper: Mottled green and brown jade. Expert’s note: There is always evidence of Zhou's compositional brilliance in his mature works, exemplified here, where the lotus blowing in the wind is perfectly balanced with both the inscription, in Zhou's fluent and elegant calligraphy, and the large seal.

Later, particularly after 1890 and until he ceased to paint in 1893, his compositions became more complex, often filling the available space to a greater extent, reducing the need for larger seals to balance sparser compositions.