Snuff Bottle: Two Inside Painted Bottles with Insects and ButterfliesThe last time I looked at a long horizontal scroll painting of flowers and insects from the Southern Song Dynasty 12 to 13 century was in a Chinese art history class at the University of Chicago. That was more than 30 years ago and I have to do some research to find the artist and the correct date. No doubt that painting has been copied many times over, and by the Ming Dynasty (CE 1368 to 1644) albums on birds and flowers and other forms of nature

Soapstone is a soft stone and easy to carve

dressed in haori - short robe

or standing

Double gourd is recognized as a magical container

45 inches deep x 2

The four character mark is Inoue Ryosai II

and the ones with the lowest melting point to be fired last

Excavated conditon with chips on the mouth

5 inches deep x 9 inches high

Tang Taizong whose name is Li Shimin as it is written on the other side of the bottle

The art of enameling was not unknown in Japan

This tall pitcher with the long ear shape handle is Western form