A MINIATURE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS 'BUTTERFLIES' SNUFF BOTTLE FAMILY OF MA SHAOXUAN, 1898

Robert Kleiner, 1992.

Christie’s London, 1999.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 4, Hong Kong, 2000, no. 583.

Bottle: Miniscule chip to the outer lip and outer footrim. The colurs have faded from one wing of the main blue butterfly. Some blurring around the outlines and to the flowers.
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The poem is a famous one by Meng Haoran 孟浩然 (689–740).

Asleep on a spring day, unaware that dawn has arrived,
I hear birds chirping everywhere.
The previous night was filled with the sound of wind and rain.
I wonder how many flowers have fallen?

A study of the body of works bearing the signature of Ma Shaoxuan suggests that throughout his career he had other family members working with him to produce a range of works under his name and that a great many of the repetitive, decorative, and rather folksy paintings that have come from this studio had little to do with Ma Shaoxuan himself.