AN INSIDE PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLEMa Shaoxuan, 1906 Of flattened, rounded form with a cylindrical neck and a neatly carved oval footrim, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with on one main side a scene of a bearded figure in conversation with his attendant who carries a water vessel, a planter with chrysanthemum and a second with grasses between them, the reverse inscribed with a four-line poem by the Tang dynasty poet Yuan Zhen, expressing admiration for the chrysanthemum flower, signed Ma Shaoxuan with one red seal, and dated; stopper. 2 1/2 in (6.5 cm) high 丙午年（1906） 馬少宣 玻璃内畫賞菊圖帶詩文鼻煙壺一件 《馬少宣》款 Provenance : Margaret Prescott Wise Edgar and Roberta Wise Robert Kleiner, October 1996 Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 260 The snuff bottle world is fortunate to have the biography of Ma Shaoxuan written by his grandson, Ma Zengshan, where the life of Ma has been pieced together by the remaining members of the family, together with some of his possessions and painting materials inherited by them. Ma Shaoxuan was born in 1867 and began painting bottles professionally when he was eighteen. According to his grandson, he began painting after seeing examples of bottles that a relative, who was an antique dealer, owned. At the apparent suggestion of his father, along with his two older brothers, he began to study how these bottles were produced. Born into a prosperous Muslim family, Ma had learned the arts of calligraphy and painting since he was a young boy. By 1897, Ma's work had reached its heights artistically and he was well-known in Beijing both for his painting and the calligraphy on the 'reverse' of his bottles.