An inside-painted glass snuff bottle


Ma Shaoxuan, 1899Painted in a spare style to the front with mist drifting over a river meandering between mountains with scattered trees, with three sailing boats in the background, and a canopied boat in the foreground seated with figures and being hauled by two men along the bank, the top inscribed as 'fang Nantian Laoren bifa' (in the spirit of Nan Tian (the sobriquet of Yun Shouping), the reverse inscribed with a Tang dynasty poem matching the depicted landscape, dated jihai chunri (spring of 1899), signed Ma Shaoxuan, with a red seal mark to each side. 2 7/16in (6.2cm) high
|ProvenanceKing Feng Arts Co., Hong Kong, 16 June 1997Inside-painted landscapes snuff bottles by Ma Shaoxuan are rare comparing to the bottles painted with his popular themes, such as his favored and repeated subject of old paintings, rubbings and other documents known as 'bapo' painting, and his spectacular portrait bottles. Ma's landscapes on snuff bottles seem often follow the same composition arrangement of a foreground, diagonal middle ground, and a far range of mountainous peaks. Refer to another inside-painted 'calligraphy and landscape' snuff bottle by Ma Shaoxuan, dated 1897, from the Mary and George Bloch Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 25 May 2011, sale 19305, lot 37.1899 馬少宣 玻璃內畫仿南田老人山水人物鼻煙壺 《馬少宣》款