Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 9. (Budapest, 1966)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Polonyi, Péter: Some Inside-Painted Chinese Snuff Bottles

Fig. 5. Chou Shao-yüan: Inside-painted snuff bottle from 1907 (No. 50.408) (front) Fig. 6. Chou Shao-yüan: Inside-painted snuff bottle from 1907 (No. 50.408) (back) which the scenes represented on the bottles had often political topicalities to say in an oblique form.

24 As shown by the inscription of a slightly archaic calligraphy to be found on our bottle, it shows ascene of the tale ,,Liu hsiutsai"

25 translated by Giles as ,,Mr. Willow and the Locusts". Pu Sung-ling's tale deals with the magistrate of a district infested by locusts, who, in his dream, gets the advice from somebody (who turns out later to be the Spirit of Willows) to go beyond the towngate and to salute the Spirit of the Locusts riding on a mule : she will have mercy on him. The magistrate followed the advice and, from that time on, the locusts destroyed the willows. Our bottle shows the scene when the magistrate steps out of the towngate and appears before the Spirit of the Locusts. Pu Sung-ling describes this scene as follows (translated by Giles) : ,,. . . along came a woman with her hair tied up in a knot, and a serge cape over her shoulders, riding slowly northwards on an old mule; whereupon the magistrate burned some sticks of incense . . ,"

26 Although the story mentions no persons others than the chief characters, the delineation requires their impersonation. Maybe that this story had also some hidden political things to 24 Cammann HJAS pp. 318 — 319. 25 Pu Sung-ling : Liao-chai chih-i. Peking, 1957. p. 730. 20 Herbert A. Giles : Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapore, 1936. pp. 405 — 6. CIXI. 13 Iparművészeti évkönyv IX. 193