This well painted snuff bottle, rendered in the traditional gong bi manner of figure painting, illustrates battle scenes from the famous novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. My early introduction to the novel was by my Uncle Philip who spent hours entertaining my cousins, siblings and I with dramatic rendition of the story. That was the days before television and movies and we hungered for the continuation of the story. Later on, it became one of my favorite classes at the University of Chicago, taught by Mr. David Roy. This novel is a 14th century Ming Dynasty vernacular narrative by Luo Guanzhong. It is one of China's greatest and most influential works of literature - an epic tale of strategical warfare, which gave us the three most famous heroes- Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. They and other characters, are easily identified by their headgear, their weapons of choice and their war banners.
This larger size glass battle provides the space for a continuous battle scene. My familiarity of the story has faded in time, but it can be surmised that the battle scene involved the three heroes and another important military man by the name of Lu Bu, also known as the Flying General. He is easily identified by his headgear of a pair of long pheasant tail feathers. There is also a banner with the name Zhang, for Zhang Fei who rode the black horse On the white horse is Guan Yu, wielding his famous halberd and Liu Bei with a pair of swords is on the left behind Lu Bu. The fighters on the other side of the bottle need further research in the identification, though true fans of the novel will be able to say in a heart beat who the characters are and from which scene.
The bottle is of high quality crystal. The cap is a green agate on a black disk, with a cork stopper and bone spoon.
Dating: late 20th to early 21st century
Dimensions: 3 inches wide x 1 inch deep x 3.25 inches high