Ivory Snuff Bottle with Landscape theme

[richy88]

Hi All

Landscape scene remained a favourite subject for Chinese arts and is also common in snuff bottles.

In the past, there were many posts on landscape in inside painted bottles. However, as there are landscape in other materials as well, I decided to place them all under this new thread.

This one is an ivory bottle of tall slender form, carved one side with minute details with two figures seated beside a river bank, shaded by trees and hills with a waterfall in the distance.

The reverse carved with a lengthy poem by Tao Yuanming in raised characters with a signature, Jun Sheng and dated 1818 with a matching stopper. Height without stopper: 70mm.

Enjoy!


Richard

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Richard,
    I like this ivory, but does the date mention the Jiaqing emperor? If not, it could be 1878, or 1938. Or the original inscription itself could have been dated to 1818, etc.
    Personally, I'd date it to 1880-1950 (I can't decide whether it is late 19th C. or mid 20th C.)
   Whatever the date etc., it is a very pleasing bottle.
  Thank you for posting it.
Joey

[rpfstoneman]

Richard,

Now this is a bottle in line with my taste.  A landscape design in an organic material.  A beautiful bottle!

Charll

[joearp]

Quite beautiful Richard!  Jo

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Hm... Indeed, this is a very nice bottle, and one where age doesn't matter, in my view.  Thanks for sharing it Richard!

[richy88]

Hi All

Thank you for your compliments!

And thanks for your feedback, Joey! In fact, after reading your comment, I did a little research and is finally able to identify the artist. The date of the bottle should be
1938 instead of 1818 as provided by the dealer. (a reputable one, though)

This bottle is the work of Yang Shihui (杨士惠), also know as Yang Runsheng (杨润生) (1911 - 1987), a Grand Master of Art in ivory carving in Beijing. He is also the founder of the Yang School of ivory carving and a leader in this art. 

He learnt the art of carving at a very young age of 12 from his grandfather and grand uncle. He then proceed to learn other Chinese arts before becoming a full time ivory carver. He have created numerous masterpieces and some of these were presented as state gifts to foreign leaders by the Chinese government.

Interestingly, there was an article on his creation of 4 ivory vases all done in 1938, the same year as my bottle. All of them was carved with landscape on one side and a poem in raised characters on the other. These vases are just slightly bigger than the snuff bottle, the biggest being 14.5 cm and the smallest, 9.5 cm.

Here are some of the links on him and his works:

His official website:
http://artist.artxun.com/33351-yangshihui/

Some of his works:
http://huangchaogeng.blog.163.com/blog/static/99740429201210173333771/


For your reference.


Richard

[OIB]

Richard,

Great work. Thanks for the write-up on Yang.

Inn Bok

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Richard,
   Wonderful work and a wonderful bottle! It is really amazing that you were able to track down the artist, and he is a serious master. Of course that was obvious from the quality of the bottle.
I love the traditional landscape, but the raised calligraphy is impressive as well.
  Congratulations!
Joey

[George]

Excellent work Richard, and thanks for sharing about Yang with us...

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

George,
   Is it possible to add 'Ivory' to the title of this 'thread'? That would help me find it again.
I really like this bottle, but without the 'Ivory' in the title, I will probably forget where it is. If it isn't possible, that's all right.
Thanks,
Joey

[Steven]

Dear Joey,

I have changed the title for you..

Steven

[George]

Thanks Steven 

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Thank you, Richard, Steven and George.
  Richard, for posting the bottle and doing the research.
  Steven,  for adding the 'Ivory', which facilitate my finding this special bottle again.
And George, for the Forum.
Joey

[richy88]

Hi Joey

You are welcome!

Actually the objective of starting this new thread was to place bottles of different materials with landscape design under one thread. This was stated in my first post of this thread. Now that the title has changed, I may have to start another thread to avoid any confusion.

On a side note, I wonder if the forum has a facility for one to mark a thread as a favourite (something similar to sticky, but not necessary at the beginning of the board) for easy future reference? This will especially be useful when there are more content posted in the forum and we will not have to search through all the threads to find the right one. Any advise on this, George or Steven?

Thanks.


Richard

[George]

On a side note, I wonder if the forum has a facility for one to mark a thread as a favourite (something similar to sticky, but not necessary at the beginning of the board) for easy future reference? This will especially be useful when there are more content posted in the forum and we will not have to search through all the threads to find the right one. Any advise on this, George or Steven?

No, sorry Richy..

Short of creating various folders within our browsers bookmarks, no way to save our favorite forum topics for quick reference..

It would be nice if the software offered that..

[kjennings12]

Dear Richard,

Excellent detective work!

Keith

[richy88]

Thanks, Keith!

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Richard,
   In your first post, you mentioned a signature, Jun Sheng, and the date 1818. Later you wrote that it was Yang Runsheng and 1938.
   Are the characters for 'Jun' and 'Run'  very similar, or is it a pronunciation issue?
Joey

[richy88]

Hi Joey'

The Chinese character 润 can be pronounced as Run or Jun.

In this case, Run may be more appropriate.

Regards.


Richared

Richard,
   In your first post, you mentioned a signature, Jun Sheng, and the date 1818. Later you wrote that it was Yang Runsheng and 1938.
   Are the characters for 'Jun' and 'Run'  very similar, or is it a pronunciation issue?
Joey

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Richard,
   Thank you for clarifying that. Inn Bok just posted a beautiful carved ivory snuff bottle that looks like it is by Yang Runsheng.
   Yang Yongfu (YF Yang) is northern Chinese (Beijing area) and Moslem. Is Yang (Ram in translation), a name limited to Ethnic minorities in China, or also a Han Chinese surname?
Shabbat Shalom,
    Joey