Lot 200
![[PRIVATE ENGLISH COLLECTION] TWO CHINESE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLES](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/38e6d729-177a-4984-ac2b-e45a9c6d29a2/65396097-4fc3-47db-b359-37530b55932b/0001_NuWMMW_original.jpeg)
[PRIVATE ENGLISH COLLECTION] TWO CHINESE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLES
YE BENGQI (AC. 1930-1960), ONE DATED 1958
Auction: 06 November 2026 from 10:00 GMT
Description
葉菶祺 其一1958年（戊戌） 玻璃內畫花鳥及山水人物圖鼻煙壺（共兩件）
one compressed form painted with birds perched on flowering branches, dated to Wu Xu year, corresponding to 1958AD, signed ‘Ye Bengqi’ with a green stopper; together with an oval bottle painted with shanshui landscape and figures, signed ‘Ye Xiaosan’, with a red stopper (2)
Dimensions
6.2cm high each without stopper
Provenance
Private English collection, London; inherited from the artist Lottie Davis, by repute gifted to her by the Office of the Chargé d’Affaires in Beijing in the mid-20th century.
英格蘭私人收藏，倫敦；繼承自藝術家洛蒂・戴維斯（Lottie Davis），據傳其於20世紀中葉由北京大使館贈予。
Footnote
Ye Bengqi, the third son of Ye Zhongsan, is renowned for his highly accomplished recreations of Imperial enamelled glassware, particularly snuff bottles. He studied the patterns of genuine Imperial examples in the Palace Museum in Beijing, committing them to memory before reproducing them at the family’s Apricot Grove Studio. In an interview with Hugh Moss in early 1974, shortly before his death, Ye stated that he had produced approximately thirty to forty such copies between around 1925 and 1940, and identified several examples published or photographed at the time as his own works. His exceptionally convincing reproductions were for decades mistaken for genuine Qianlong-period Imperial pieces, while some authentic examples were later questioned for their comparatively less refined execution. Today, Ye Bengqi’s enamelled glass snuff bottles are recognised as significant works in their own right. See two glass snuff bottles attributed to him, one sold at Bonhams New York, 14 September 2026, lot 137; the other offered at the same saleroom and sale as above, lot 165.
For inside-painted snuff bottles by Ye Bengqi, one sold at Christie's London, 12 Nov 2025, lot 102; one similarly signed ‘Ye Xiaosan’ like one of the bottles in the present lot, offered at Yu Jen Taipei, 29 Oct 2017, lot 607.