Four Beautiful Ladies

[wgeoff]

My offering this week is Four Beautiful Ladies - well five actually, the last was added by request of Peter Bentley over a very convivial dinner last Friday night.

The first lady needs no introduction



As well as Diana herself, I particularly like the English Rose on the reverse side. A good subject and a good bottle.

The next I'm not absolutely sure of but I think it's Marie Antoinette.



A beautifully painted bottle and one of the best in my collection, I think.

The third bottle has two beautiful ladies, as yet unidentified, and with no text is a real test for the experts



This looks similar to the one on Bill Patrick's website, I wonder if it could be by Wang Sijia. The quality of painting for both portraits and clothing/jewellery is really good.
This bottle disappeared into Peter's collection when I first showed him, supposedly for 'photographing to find the identity of the artist' but I think he just wanted to gaze at the ladies at his leisure.

The final bottle is not a masterpiece. It's a copy of a photograph taken on holiday in Yunnan with my wife a few Easters ago (rather too many in fact).



I asked my regular bottle supplier in Shenzhen if he could copy it on a bottle and he said yes. I have no idea where, or by whom it was done, but as a personal treasure it would be interesting to know any details.

As usual, I would like to know the artists and dates, and any other information such as the background to the text in both the second and fourth bottles. Here are close-ups of two of the inscriptions, from Diana and the last bottle



Diana I can read now (with my recent education) as 1999 from One Bottle Studio but the others are a mystery.

Thanks for your help, hope you like them
Geoff

 

[Pat - 查尚杰]

Geoff

I happen to have some similar unsigned bottles with ladies as yours, and have to dig out the pics.  I was told they originate from Li Shouxun studio (Apollo).  We may never really know but perhaps Peter can help us out...

Nice bottles you display here! Thanks for sharing!

[misfit38]

Thank you for sharing these bottles, they are lovely.

Kaz

[MikeChina]

Please keep the first and the second, especially the second one!!!
Form the calligraphy of the second, it was painted bu Hou Yan Bin, who is one of Wang Xisan's students.
If possible, I will show the pictures to Mr. Hou.
Mike

[George]

You have some of the most wonderful bottles Geoff  !!

Yes, the one does look very similar to the Wang Sijia bottles on Bill's site..

[wgeoff]

Thanks for these comments.

Yes Mike, the second bottle appears to be signed by Yan Bin or Hou Yanbin. Also I now believe the lady is Mme Adrienne de La Fayette, the wife of Lafayette of American Civil War fame. Whatever, it's one of my best painted bottles.

If Pat is correct and the third bottle comes from the Apollo Studio, this is a common link between the second and third bottles, as Hou Yanbin is reported on Peter's website as being Manager of Apollo.

Geoff