A FINE AND RARE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS BOTTLE
PROPERTY OF VARIOUS OWNERS
A FINE AND RARE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS BOTTLE

SIGNED MA SHAOXUAN, DATED AUTUMN, NINTH MONTH, 1895; WITH TWO SEALS: MA GUANG ZHONG YIN AND SHAOXUAN

细节
A FINE AND RARE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS BOTTLE
Signed Ma Shaoxuan, dated Autumn, ninth month, 1895; with two seals: Ma Guang Zhong Yin and Shaoxuan
Of rounded rectangular shape, finely painted on one side with a scene of the two Qiao sisters, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, seated on a rustic cane bench and reading a book together, the reverse inscribed with a twenty-eight-character poem referring to the scene, stopper
2½in. (6.2cm.) high
来源
Sotheby's, London, 24 April 1989, lot 415.

拍品专文

This well-known scene of the two Qiao sisters, famous for their legendary beauty, is taken from the classic, Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). For a discussion of this subject, see G. G. Laverlochere, 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Source of Snuff Bottle Subjects,' Journal, The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Spring, 1988, pp. 12-13.

Compare a rock crystal bottle painted with this scene and bearing the same 32-character poem, but dated 1896, in the collection of Mary and George Bloch illustrated by H. Moss, V. Graham and K.B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 4, Part 2, Inside Painted, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 373-375, no. 578, where the authors note that Ma first painted this subject in 1894, and that only four examples dated to 1895 are recorded, p. 374. The authors also provide a complete translation of the poem, op. cit., p. 374.

For two similar bottles painted with the Qiao sisters, one dated 1895 and the other dated 1900, see H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, pp. 136-137, nos. 338 and 347 respectively. The latter bottle, dated 1900, was part of the Reif Collection, and sold in these rooms, 18 October 1993, lot 202.