AN INSIDE-PAINTED SMOKY CRYSTAL BOTTLEYe Zhongsan Signed and dated guizhou year, corresponding to 1913 Of rounded rectangular shape and painted on one main face with Huang Chengyan riding a donkey followed by an assistant carrying a large gourd vessel over his shoulder, below a lengthy poetic inscription with the date, signature and seal yin in negative seal script, the reverse side painted with scene of Liu Bei arriving at Zhuge Liang's home during a snowstorm; stopper. 2 1/2in (6.2cm) high 癸酉年（1913） 葉仲三 煙晶内畫三國人物鼻烟壺 Provenance: Sotheby's, Billinghurst, 1 December 1992, lot 1871 Exhibited: International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 52 pare with another amber glass example dated to 1912, the year prior to ours, illustrated by Hugh Moss; Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of the Rt. Hon. The Marquess of Exeter K.C.M.G. , pp. 152-153, no M.11. Another rock-crystal example by Ye Zhongsan formerly in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is illustrated by Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles New York and Tokyo, 1976, pp. 244-245, no. 902, is painted with the same two scenes and the identical poetic inscription though dated to 1925 and more globular in profile. The poemes from the novel Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). For further discussion of this subject, see Ka Bo Tsang, 'Who is the Rider on the Donkey? Some New Observations,' ICSBS Journal , Summer 1994, pp.4-16.