Description
Description: Chinese pale red / pink over opaque white overlay glass snuff bottle. Carved in low relief in the Yangzhou style, showing Zhong Kui, the demon queller (see Notes below), on both sides. He is holding a sword on one side and is holding a fan on the other side. He is surrounded by 5 bats and a snake. There is also a seal script.
Foot/base: Rounded foot and convex base.
Mark: No marks
Dating: First half of 19th century
Material: Glass.
Size: 65 mm high
Stopper: Brown jade and well-shaped bone spoon. It is an old stopper
Provenance: Ex Carlo Cottarelli Collection, Milano, Italy. Bought directly from him.
References: See last two pictures
Notes: About Carlo Cottarelli collection, see bottle C2 in the Ceramics section.
From Wikipedia: Zhong Kui (鍾馗) is a deity in Chinese mythology, traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings. He is universally depicted as a large man with a big black beard, bulging eyes and a wrathful expression. Zhong Kui is reputedly able to command 80,000 demons to do his bidding, and is often associated with the five bats of fortune. According to folklore, Zhong Kui travelled with a friend from his hometown, Du Ping (杜平), to take part in the state-wide imperial examinations held in the capital city. Though Zhong Kui attained great academic success through his achievement of top honors in the major exams, his rightful title of “Zhuangyuan” (top-scorer) was stripped from him by the emperor because of his disfigured and ugly appearance. In anger and fury, Zhong Kui committed suicide by continually hurling himself against the palace gates until his head was broken, whereupon Du Ping had him buried and laid to rest. During the divine judgment after his death from suicide, Yama (the Chinese Hell King) saw much potential in Zhong Kui, intelligent and smart enough to score top honors in the imperial examinations but condemned to Hell because of the grave sin of suicide. Yama then gave him a title as the king of ghosts and tasked him to hunt, capture, take charge of and maintain discipline and order among all ghosts. After Zhong Kui became the king of ghosts in Hell, he returned to his hometown on Chinese New Year’s eve. To repay Du Ping’s kindness, Zhong Kui gave his younger sister in marriage to Du Ping.
Further note: On the images, the bottle is bending. It is not the bottle, it is because of the convex base over a convex surface.
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