Zhou Shaoyuan (active 1901-1909)
Dated yisi year (1905)
The bottle is well-painted on one side with eight animated boys, six clad in white and two in red tunics, with one boy riding piggyback. They are running in one direction. The other side depicts another group of eight boys, probably the same group, who are engaged in cricket fights, with one trying to catch an escaped cricket.
Inscribed and signed by the artist, followed by a seal.
Height: 6.8 cm
Provenance: Feng-Chun Ma, Amsterdam
Published in Feng-Chun Ma, A Thousand Years of Hundred Boys in Chinese Art, 10th–20th Century (Hong Kong: CA Book Publishing, 2024), p. 211.
For details of Zhou Shaoyuan's career, see Moss et
al., A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, No. 4. Inside
painted, no. 630. He was the nephew of the famous
and influential artist, Zhou Leyuan.
S 46 1905年 周少元作 玻璃內畫鼻煙壺
方瓶式鼻煙壺，一面畫八子奔跑嬉戲，另一面畫八子鬥蟋蟀。
有周少元款印，並記「乙巳」年作。
高6.8公分
來源：Feng-Chun Ma, Amsterdam
出版：馬鳳春《千年百子─十至二十世紀中國藝術中的嬰戲圖》(香港：CA Book Publishing, 2024)，頁211。
