Zhou(Chou) Lo-yuan Bottle / Daoist Immortal Liu Haichan

Daoist Immortal Liu Haichan on a riverbank holding a cord, his mythical three legged toad on one end, and a sting of cash on the other.

Paintings of the immortal Liu Hai exist from as early as the Yuan dynasty ( 1260-1368 ).

Liu Haichan is usually depicted with his fantastic three legged toad who could convey him anywhere in the universe. Liu kept his toad close at hand by distracting him with a string of coins.

Nice bottle at 2 1/2".  These smaller bottles with very small openings, really make me appreciate the added degree of painting difficulty and detail of the paintings.

The script reads. Autumn jen ch'en 1892, painted in Peking. Here is a little info from Hugh Moss's site.. Here is a snippet..

"What is also important, from the point of view of the collector and student of the subject, is that he left a large body of works. He obviously painted full-time from the late 1870s until he ceased to paint in the spring of 1893. In some years he was more prolific than in others and particularly between 1882 and 1885 he didn’t date so many works so we are left to guess at what was done in those years, but his output was prolific during the height of his career from the early 1880s to 1893. As a commercial painter, however, his output would have matched the demand for his works, and it is obvious from the dated works that he hit the height of his fame between about 1885 and 1893 – with demand steadily increasing throughout that period."

It does also show what appears to be the Lo yuan seal ( fig 58 ) common for his later works.

Although this is signed Zhou Lo yuan, it has since been confirmed to not be a Zhou painting. One of the forum members, Joey, commented about how it may be painted by Ye Xiao feng or Ye Bengqi. The Ye Family is known to have been one of a few artists that imitated Zhou's works.

In June of 2010, Bonhams sold one almost exactly like this one. Problem is that Zhou Lo yuan is not known to have painted two identical bottles.

This one really got me excited for a bit... Still, it is truly a beautifully painted bottle !

Sold....