Page 84 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17

(two views)

•295
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 fgure resting near
a stream while glancing up at a bird in fight. Both sides have an inscription referring to the
scene, a cyclical date jiawu (1894), and a signature of the artist.

2¡ in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper
$8,000-12,000

PROVENANCE

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

EXHIBITED

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

Ma Shaoxuan (1867-1939) was one of the most technically accomplished artists of the
Beijing School of snuf-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 frst 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.
甲午年（1894） 馬少宣作玻璃内畫撫琴圖鼻煙壺
82