About This Forum

This snuff bottle community forum is dedicated to the novice, more experienced, and expert collectors. Topics are intended to cover all aspects and types of bottle collecting. To include trials, tribulations, identifying, researching, and much more.

Among other things, donations help keep the forum free from Google type advertisements, and also make it possible to purchases additional photo hosting MB space.

Forum Bottle in the Spotlight

Charll shared this beautiful Xianfeng (1851-1861) dated bottle depicting NeZha combating the Dragon King amongst a rolling sea of blue and eight mythical sea creatures.


Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇
March 29, 2024, 02:40:18 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
 
  Home Help Search Contact Login Register  

Yangzhou School Bottle- Your Thoughts Please!

Pages: 1 2 3 [4]
  Print  
Author Topic: Yangzhou School Bottle- Your Thoughts Please!  (Read 6399 times)
0 Members and 192 Guests are viewing this topic.
Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
Private Boards
Hero Member
***
Gender: Male
Posts: 11283


« Reply #60 on: July 09, 2015, 05:11:16 am »

Dear YT,
 
     So in effect, would a suggested 2 bottle set, with this bottle displaying  'North XuanWu' and 'West Tiger', and the second bottle displaying 'East Dragon' and 'South Phoenix', would in effect be an amulet, displaying the 'Four Holy Beasts'  and keeping away all demons ?   I assume this is a Daoist belief, rather than Buddhist.

     Thank you for the insight. My first thought was that these were three of the animals representing the Chinese Zodiac, but while  the snake and the tiger are there, the tortoise/turtle is not. I then wondered if it was a rebus, but no luck there, either. Then I wondered if there was a Chinese proverb or story, like one I just learned about from Curt Lam, who was just here with his family.

    One of the four B & W bottles I just got in the Bonham's SFO sale of 23.June,2015, from lot 7186 (from the Bentley Collection, London), has a picture of a bird (a snipe - Thanks Tom; sandpiper - Thanks Inn Bok) with its beak caught in a clam shell. The bird tried to eat the clam's flesh, and its beak was caught by the clam which refused to release it and  both are about to be grabbed by a fisherman, suggesting a Chinese proverb, parable or story which implies that two smaller powers which fight among themselves will inevitably BOTH be swallowed up by a much larger power. Thank you to  Inn Bok for clarifying that it is based on a historical episode.

Best,
Joey


Dear all,

This is what I have gathered so far.

The Taoist god 玄武(xuán wǔ) is the 'Black Tortoise'. Physically it looks like a tortoise entwined together with a snake.
The four holy beast that all demons are afraid of is the "东苍龙、西白虎、南朱雀、北玄武" East Dragon, West Tiger, South Phoenix and North XuanWu.

This Pink overlay could be one of two bottles' set, with the other showing a dragon and a phoenix.
Attached is the top and bottom pics.

Cheers,
YT
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 06:41:30 am by Joey » Report Spam   Logged

Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

Pages: 1 2 3 [4]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal