Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 9. (Budapest, 1966)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Polonyi, Péter: Some Inside-Painted Chinese Snuff Bottles
PÉTER POLONYI SOME INS IDE-PAINTED CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES The manufacturing of inside-painted snuff bottles was started in China in the second half of the last century only (the snuff bottle painted in 1887 1 by Chou Lo-yüan 2 the presumed founder of the "school" is generally considered 1 Collection of Isaac Jackes No. 506. 2 In his article , Inside-Painted Vases" („Lühsingchia" (The Tourist) 1956/8 p. 45 Peking) Lü CTi'; cites the recollections of vase-painting artists working in Liupo as follows, as far as the origin of this art coming from the capital was concerned: "According to the tradition, the inside-painted vases were invented by a painter working in the style of a national art school, Chou Lo-yüan, in the Hsien-feng years of the dynastv Ch'ing (1851 — 1861. P. P.) in Peking . . ." Now Yeh Peng-chih a present day snuff-bottle painter in his article entitled by „Miniatűré Pictures in Tiny Bottles" (China Reconstructs 1962/10 pp. 24 — 25.) says that the origin of inside-painted snuff bottles was in the beginning of the last century. He wrotes : „The origin of the art is unknown but I have been told that it was started by an early nineteenth century scholar. Paintings were at fist in black and white only; later colour was introduced." Unfortunately it is no more informations about this period, and the most famous painter of these early snuff-bottles even by Yeh Peng-chih was the Chou Lo-yüan. In working up the collections, a similar conclusion was reached in the West too, i.e. that Chou Lo-yüan must have been the earliest snuff bottle painter —and this in full independence from the above cited statement, since no reference whatsoever is made on Chinese traditions. The most competent expert of the question, Schuyler Cammann, has this to write about it: „. . . he is now generally conceded to have been the first of the inside-bottle painters, and thus he was probably the founder of the whole ,school'." („Chinese Inside-Painted Snuff Bottles and Their Makers" Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 20. June 1957. pp. 295 — 326.), and elsewhere: ,,. . . he is now conceded to have been the first of the inside-bottle painters, and was undoubtedly the founder of the whole school." („Chinese ,Églomisé' Snuff Bottles" Oriental Art. Vol. III. No. 3. Autumn 1957. pp. 85 — 89.) Lilla S. Perry, a collector, also agreed with these statements in an extensive monograph written on snuff bottles: „We now know that this extraordinary art began with Chou Lo Yuan, the founder of the school." (Chinese Snuff Bottles — The Adventures and Studies of a Collector. Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, 1960.) Although we hardly know anything about the person of Chou Lo-yüan it seems to be certain that he actually is the founder of the school, since he is considered as such both by tradition and by scientific elaboration. However, the date of the Hsienfeng period (1851 — 1861) seems to be rather early as compared with the fact that most of Chou Lo-yüan's actually known bottles date from the beginning of the 90-s (though it would not preclude it either), whereas the date of 1887 seems to be too late in comparison with Shantung traditions. Since the above mentioned article of „Lühsingchia" plays an important role in this question, we release its full translation in Appendix.
