Page 30 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

419
AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Ma Shaoxuan
Signed, 1896-1900
Decorated on one side with a lady seated at a table holding a floral
spray, perhaps peony, in one hand, a brush pot and writing materials
to one side, a two-line inscription on the shoulder, an inscription
of thirty-six characters on the reverse alluding to the lady’s beauty
together with the signature and seal Shaoxuan; stopper.
2 3/8in (6.1cm) high
$6,000 - 8,000

1896-1900 馬少宣 玻璃内畫「仕女吟思」圖鼻煙壺

Provenance:
Mei Ling Collection
Sotheby’s, New York, The Mei Ling Collection, 15 March 1984, lot 210

Literature:
H.M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles, No. 2, p. 47, no. 14
H. M. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, no. 345

Exhibited:
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, New York, 5-9
November 2013, no. 25

See another example from the Monimar Collection illustrated by Ma
Zengsan, Inside-painted Snuff Bottle Artist Ma Shaoxuan (1867-1939),
Baltimore, 1997, p.48, fig. 29 and also a monochrome detail of the
seated lady, ibid., p.83. The Monimar example bears the same title
above the sitter’s head but without the seal. Though both bottles are
undated, the author suggests these are early works probably dating to
between 1896-1900.

See also, Christie’s, New York, The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection
of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part VI, 12 September 2018, lot 643 for
another dated 1894.

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