Chinese inside-painted smoky quartz snuff bottle by Wang Xisan, 20th century
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
20th century
This Chinese snuff bottle is crafted from smoky quartz and features the intricate technique of inside-painting, where the artist applies images to the interior surface of the translucent stone through the narrow neck opening.
The body of the vessel is formed into a compressed pear shape. The obverse side is decorated with a scene depicting a fisherman by a lake, while the reverse side features a figure of a farmer riding on the back of a buffalo. The bottle is completed with a matching stopper surmounted by a coral cabochon. Measuring 7 cm in height, the piece is signed by the noted artist Wang Xisan, who was born in 1938 and became a master of this specialized artistic practice, having developed his skills under the tutelage of Ye Bengqi.
The bottle represents a sophisticated example of 20th-century Chinese lapidary and miniature painting, demonstrating a refined pictorial vocabulary through the delicate rendering of landscapes and figures within the confines of the quartz medium.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Physical characteristics
- Height
- 7 cm
- Stopper
- coral cabochon
- Material
- smoky quartz
Technical characteristics
- Decoration
- inside-painted
Design
- Obverse
- fisherman by a lake
- Reverse
- farmer riding on a buffalo
Identification
- Source note
- Described from a single auction-house listing published on Invaluable (reproduced with Invaluable's permission). Details apply to that one example; other examples of the type may differ, and the listing is supplementary evidence, not authentication.
- Maker named in listing
- Wang Xisan
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.