AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS 'PORTRAIT AFTER MA SHAOXUAN' SNUFF BOTTLE LIU SHOUBEN, 1990

Robert Kleiner, London, 1990. 

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. 669.

Apart from a barely perceptible nick to the inner footring, the bottle is in overall very good condition and the inside painting has been well preserved.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Liu Shouben was born in 1943. Although he did not come from an artistically educated family, he loved art above all else at school. Leaving school early, he began work as a grinder of pigments in the cloisonné factory at Beijing. In October of 1960, he and Ding Guiling 丁桂玲 were re-assigned to the inside-painted workshop where the Ye brothers worked and taught their students Wang Xisan 王習三 and Ye Shuying 葉樹英.

Apart from learning the art of inside painting from the Ye brothers, Liu Shouben and Wang Xisan both eagerly studied traditional painting, sketching, and other arts in their spare time and visited the Palace Museum whenever they could. They were both ardent students of Chinese culture in general, and both devoured books on a regular basis trying to improve their understanding of their tradition. For a fuller account of Liu and his works, see J. H. Leung 1990, pp. 120–127.

The pine tree in landscape painted on the other main side of this bottle is after the style of Zhou Leyuan; Liu demonstrates here how well he could follow the master’s style. It is essentially the same sort of view as we saw in Zhou’s Sale 2, lots 41 and 66, where a pine grows on a high promontory, allowing the viewer to look down into the valley below. Although there are differences between Zhou’s work and Liu’s, Liu has mastered the style extremely well.

Liu Shouben recalls copying this portrait from a photograph he saw of a painting by Ma Shaoxuan that was in a bottle apparently sold to a couple in Taiwan. He was very impressed by Ma’s portraiture and decided to copy the painting in order to help him master the style. Although the subject of this portrait is not identitifed, it bears a marked resemblance to the entrepreneur, cabinet member, and educator Zhang Jian 張謇 (1853–1926 — see Curtis 1980, pp. 63–65).