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Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇
March 29, 2024, 01:03:06 am
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Suzhou

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wgeoff
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« on: April 04, 2014, 05:44:51 pm »

My postings for this week are a few odd bottles which I can't easily attribute.

Starting with this one which I think is of Suzhou. I really like old paintings of Suzhou and similar towns so I immediately bought this when I saw it - don't know where, but must be in the early 2000's.

This bottle is large, nearly 11cm tall without the stopper and 10cm wide. Here's a full view

 

and a closer-up view of the painting, itself 8cm tall by 7cm wide



As I mentioned before, I bought this bottle because the painting looked like a real painting and the closer you get, the more that is true.
It isn't painted with a fine brush to allow detail - it's painted with a broad brush in a different style to most IP bottles, quite unlike anything else I have




almost as though this is a large painting artist having a go at inside painting a bottle.

The calligraphy is also a puzzle to me, some of the characters look very odd



Has anyone seen other bottles like this? Maybe the detective can tell me more.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2019, 04:16:07 am by George » Report Spam   Logged

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rpfstoneman
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« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2014, 10:58:51 pm »

Geoff,

I can not speak to the calligraphy or it's translation, but I do like the painting design and style.  I have seen this style of painting among a number of other artists with similar structural images.  Though the painting has a watercolor effect upon close inspection, the images are very well proportioned and appear detailed when view from a distance.  Very nice bottle.

Charll
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Charll K Stoneman, Eureka, California USA, Collector Since 1979.

Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2014, 01:23:07 am »

Hi   Geoff

Greetings   from  Wenzhou

The  bottle  is   signed  "Chen Mu "   晨 沐 

STEVEN  :  PLEASE   CORRECT  IF  I'M WRONG

This   name   does  not  appar  in any  way  inn my  DB.   So  I  can  only  assume  it's  a  pen  name  by  a  minor   artist

Although  the    style  and  picture   matter   do  have  a   srong  resemblance  to  Hu  Xiaoran :   check  Bill's   website  <www.snuffbottlecolllector.com

Cheers

Peter

« Last Edit: April 05, 2014, 01:49:48 am by Peter Bentley 彭达理 » Report Spam   Logged

richy88
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« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2014, 02:17:52 am »

Hi Peter

The painter is signed Zhang Yu (张宇).

Chen Mu (晨牧) is the title of the painting where you can see the village girl herding the ducks in the picture. Chen Mu means herding in the morning.

The title of the other side is Autumn in Jiang Nan (秋到江南).

For your reference.

Regards.


Richard
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Richard from sunny Singapore
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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2014, 02:35:37 am »

Hi  Ricahard

Many thanks  !

I  sill  can    not    find  Zhang Yu  in my DB

Cheers

Perter
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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2014, 03:52:10 am »

Hi  Richard,  Steven

Is  there  a   3rd  character   in the  artist name   which  would  help me   narrow   him/her down  ?
Cheers

Peter

PS:    I  know  that   I   broke   THE   RULES   by  asking  for  Geoff  to  be   admitted   as  "SCHOLAR  EXEMPLIS"      way   ahead  of  of  time  ..

And  I   apologise  >   Geoff  was  his  own  introducer . 

But  like  my   prime     IPBs   -  did  I   did  I  not   sense a   true   MAGIC    contributor  a  mile  off  ?

YES !





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wgeoff
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« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2014, 07:41:32 pm »

Thanks to all for their responses.

In summary, the painting is of the Jiang Nan area which includes Suzhou and similar looking towns.
The artists name is Zhang Yu plus a third character which my wife can't read - can anyone else?
There is no similar Zhang Yu on Peter's database, the closest is Zhang Yuxiao but the Yu is different and the style looks wrong.

Charll - you mention other artists with similar images. Can you or anyone else point me towards similar artists/works?

Also I'm wondering exactly what the two seals mean, both on this and other bottles



What is the function of these red seals on bottles? Most modern bottles seem to have one or two of them, I thought one may indicate the artists name and one the studio, but is that true?

Thanks
Geoff 
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Steven
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« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2014, 10:21:19 pm »

Hi Geoff,

That is a nice looking bottle, Altho I am not big fan of the bottle shape, but the painting is very stylish. Love it.

As far as the artist, I don't know anything about the zhang yu, and the third character is " zuo" which mean "painted by". sometimes the seal really mean something. specially when the seal was artist's last name or first name, but in not this case, the left one is "seal" seal which is only for decoration, the right one is one bottle studio seal, which only means the artist is a Ji school artist.

From the painting style and calligraphy, it really reminds me Zhen yu's ( Pan Jiafang)'s painting, specially the calligraphy, but that style not only painted by Zhen yu, when Joey visit me a couple month ago, he brought a couple of bottle painted by Zhen yu's wife, and style is identical with Zhen yu, Somehow, I would think the artist has some kind of connection with Zhen yu. that is all I can say at this moment.Smiley

Steven
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wgeoff
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« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2014, 03:08:28 am »

Thanks Steven.

I've looked at several bottles from Pan Jiafang and can see the similarity in style, so I'll call it 'after the style of Pan Jiafang'.

Thanks again
Geoff
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Wattana
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« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2014, 10:13:59 pm »

Nice bottle Geoff.
I had no idea Suzhou looked so picturesque. I always imagined it to be some sprawling industrialized suburb of Shanghai.
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Collecting since 1971

wgeoff
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« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2014, 03:00:39 am »

Tom

I'm not sure it's actually Suzhou - more likely one of the surrounding villages.

Geoff
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