Chinese inside-painted 'Playing Cats' glass snuff bottle, Family of Ma Shaoxuan, 1909
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1909
This Chinese snuff bottle is crafted from glass and features delicate inside-painting, a technique where the artist paints the interior walls of a transparent vessel using a specialized bent brush.
The bottle is of a compressed form and measures 6.1 centimeters in height, excluding its red stopper. The obverse side is decorated with a scene of two cats playing amorously, titled 'Picture of a Happy Pair'. The reverse side features an inscription of a thirty-two-character poem by the notable writer Su Dongpo. The piece is dated to the Ji You year, corresponding to 1909 AD, and includes the signature and seal of the artist.
The work is attributed to the family of Ma Shaoxuan, a prominent practitioner of the Beijing school of inside-painting who operated a workshop where family members often collaborated on designs and calligraphy. The bottle exemplifies the meticulous nature of early 20th-century inside-painted glass wares, combining figurative art, poetic calligraphy, and the functional design of traditional snuff containers.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Physical characteristics
- Height
- 6.1 cm
- Material
- glass
Technical characteristics
- Decoration technique
- inside-painted
Design
- Obverse
- two cats playing
- Reverse
- thirty-two-character poem by Su Dongpo
- Inscriptions
- titled 'Picture of a Happy Pair', signature and seal of the artist
Identification
- Source note
- Described from a single auction-house listing published on Invaluable (reproduced with Invaluable's permission). Details apply to that one example; other examples of the type may differ, and the listing is supplementary evidence, not authentication.
- Maker named in listing
- Family of Ma Shaoxuan
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.