Ivory Snuff Bottle with Micro-Calligraphy

[kjennings12]

An interesting ivory snuff bottle with tiny calligraphy. I believe it dates to the Republic period, circa 1940.

Best regards,
Keith

[rpfstoneman]

OK Keith,

It is obvious that you’ve been collecting oriental for some time, and appear to have a great eye.  Your selection of bottles thus far whether it be old or more contemporary is quite good.  All the bottles you’ve shown I would love to have, except the red lacquer.   Even it’s a great looking bottle with age, I just don’t care for red lacquer bottles much.  Thanks for share a portion of your wonderful collection.

Charll

[kjennings12]

Hi Charll,

Thank you, I was raised in an antique store and like collecting and selling. I never wanted a brick & mortar store; the internet & ebay have opened doors I would have never thought possible 20 years ago. I like some of the quality contemporary bottles I have seen on the internet, but never see them around here, only badly crafted modern bottles and old ones occasionally.

Cheers,
Keith

[George]

You sure do have a wonderful variety of bottles shared with us Keith ...

This one is no exception.

Really nice !

[Wattana]

Hi Keith,

This type of micro-calligraphy became popular on snuff bottles in the early 1900s. One of its foremost exponents was Zhou Honglai (aka Hongbin and Yangpin), who was active from around 1900 to 1930. He specialized in working on milk-white glass bottles, which is of course far trickier than working on ivory. Micro-incising ivory snuff bottles and snuff dishes has a much wider date range, starting in the late 1800s and continuing up to the present time. From the style and quality of your bottle, I would say your dating of 1940 is probably correct, although it could possibly be from the 1960s.

Tom