SIGNED MA SHAOXUAN, AND DATED JIAWU (1894)

Details

AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
SIGNED MA SHAOXUAN, AND DATED JIAWU (1894)
The bottle is decorated in a sparing style with two scholars seated with a qin beneath a pine tree in a mountainous landscape on one side and on the reverse with a figure resting near a stream while glancing up at a bird in flight. Both sides have an inscription referring to the scene, a cyclical date jiawu (1894), and a signature of the artist.
2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper

Provenance

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2000.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2936.

Exhibited

Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Lot Essay

Ma Shaoxuan (1867-1939) was one of the most technically accomplished artists of the Beijing School of snuff-bottle painting. Founded by Zhou Leyuan, The Beijing School included other leading artists such as Ding Erzhong, Ye Zhongsan and Zi Yizi. The present bottle is particularly special because it was painted in 1894, the first year from which works by him have survived (although he is known to have painted earlier). It is one of only four known bottles the artist created in this year.

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