Page 46 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

430
AN EXTREMELY RARE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF
BOTTLE
Ma Shaoxuan
Signed, 1895-1920
One main face painted with four rabbits at a fenced garden with
morning glory, the reverse side with a neatly-written 32-character
inscription followed by the signature and seal Shaoxuan; stopper.
2in (5cm) high
$7,000 - 9,000

1895-1920 馬少宣 玻璃内畫花籬玉兔帶詩文鼻煙壺

Provenance:
Alice W. Smith, Florida
Etude Jutheau, Paris, 13 October 1995, lot 106

Exhibited:
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria,
New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 63

This extremely rare subject is extraordinarily painted in the minutest
of detail with a gathering of headstrong little rabbits in an enclosed
garden with morning glory. The danger of this naughty excursion
into the fenced-off allotment is almost palpable in the perked ears
and alert poses of the otherwise cuddly white rabbits. Again, we see
another side to Ma’s painting style, a far cry from the direct realism of
his portraits. The Tang dynasty poem written to the reverse by Sikong
Tu (834-903) “decorous and dignified” does not seem to allude to the
depiction on the other side.

No other Ma bottle of this subject appears to be published.

44 | BONHAMS