Bottle ID: 802

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MA SHAOXUAN, CRYSTAL, LIU HAI ON ROCK, CALLIGRAPHY

Date: 1897

Height: 63 mm

A crystal snuff bottle, well hollowed, of flattened triangular form,  with a cylindrical neck and with a neatly carved oval foot, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with on one side Liu hai seated astride a large convoluted rock, beneath an overhanging pine tree which grows from the riverbank, enticing a three-legged toad from the water below with one hand and clasping a string of cash in the other; the reverse with an inscription in regular script flanked by the date Winter, 1897 and signed Ma Shaoxuan with one red seal. 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection, no. 36

Provenance:

Clare Chu Asian Art LLC
A private collection, Sydney, Australia

 

The poem reads: 
Bare-footed, hair unkempt, of indeterminate age, 
[Liu hai] wandered about as he pleased on the ten islands and the three isles. 
Since a long time ago [he had stayed on the isle of] Penglai,
distancing [himself] from the mortal world. 
Always keeping a golden toad as a companion,
[he spent his time] calling on the immortals.

 

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