Page 54 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

436
AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Ma Shaoxuan
Signed and dated guimao year, corresponding to 1903
Of rounded rectangular shape, painted on one main face with three
boys prodding crickets stored in small circular boxes below the title
and seal, Shao, and on the other with a forty-character inscription,
preceded by the date, and followed by the signature and seal,
Shaoxuan; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.5cm) high

$6,000 - 8,000

癸卯年（1903） 馬少宣 玻璃内畫嬰戲蟋蟀圖及「蘭亭集序詩文」鼻
煙壺

Provenance:
Thomas C. Van Nuys
Robert Kleiner, The Thomas C. Van Nuys Collection, 25 March 1995

Literature:
Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd, Catalogue, 1995, no. 54

Exhibited:
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, New York, 5-9
November 2013, no. 58

The lengthy inscription to the reverse is an excerpt from the ‘Lanting
Preface’ written by Wang Xizhi in the 4th Century, which recorded
the elegant gathering of Wang and his friends at the orchid pavilion
in Shanyin (Shaoxing, Zhejiang province). Wang’s calligraphic style is
recognised as the traditional paragon of Chinese calligraphy and the
‘Lanting Preface’ as one of the most admired examples.

For an almost identical bottle dated 1904, see Bonhams Hong Kong,
The Paula Braga Collection, 24 November 2012, lot 61. Another with
excerpts from the ‘Lanting Preface’ by Ma Shaoxuan was sold at
Bonhams Hong Kong, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Part IV,
28 November 2011, lot 49.

52 | BONHAMS