AN EARLY INSIDE-PAINTED TALL HEXAGONAL ROCK CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLELingnan School, 1800-1825 One main side painted with a pavilion and plants, the other with two monkey's, one poking a Wasp's nest, the narrow adjacent facets painted with bamboo and flowering plants; stopper. 2 5/8in (6.6cm) high 1800-1825 水晶内畫「封侯圖」六棱鼻烟壺 嶺南派 Provenance: Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., 2006 Ruth and Carl Barron (no. 2685) Christie's New York, The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Part V, 13 September 2017, lot 305 Bearing no signature, this bottle must remain as attributed to the Lingnan (Guangdong) school in southern China, working in the early 19th century. However, it can be confidently placed in the school based on the use of a facetted crystal bottle, popular in so many of the bottles signed by the most famous artists of the school, Gan Xuanwen and Yiru Jushi. Similarly the style of the painting in subdued brown tones could easily be attributed to either of these artists, but more likely the former. For other examples of this early group of bottles, in which theparison is obvious, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection , Vol 4, Part 1, pp.28-89, no's 438, 445 and 455. The subject of monkey's poking a wasp's nest is a popular one in the snuff bottle oeuvre. The Monkey, hou , is a pun for a high ranking noble, marquess, hou . The wasp, feng , and monkey together form the rebus 'conferring the rank of marquess' fenghou . For further discussion, see Michael C Hughes, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Chinees Snuff Bottles , Baltimore, 2009, pp.244-245, no. 190.