AN INSIDE PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE SIGNED MA SHAOXUAN, China, 20th century

h cm 7,5

Depicting General Yuan Shikai, with an inscription on the reverse reading: 'Portrait of the first great President of the Republic of China, His Excellency Yuan Shikai of Xiangcheng,' and bearing the signature of the artist Ma Shaoxuan (馬少宣). The stopper in malachite.

Provenance: Private collection, Italy.

Catalog notes:

Ma Shaoxuan (1867–1939) was one of the most technically skilled artists of the Beijing school of inside-painted snuff bottles, founded by Zhou Leyuan (active 1886–1891). Ma's renowned monochrome snuff bottles, depicting portraits of high-ranking officials and prominent figures of the Qing dynasty, were highly appreciated by a select and influential elite of his time. Executed exclusively in black ink, with cinnabar used only for seals, each portrait is a technically flawless and photographic representation of the subject. Ma's fame led him, in 1911, to be commissioned to paint two portraits of the young Emperor Xuantong. He also painted portraits of numerous senior officials of the late Qing dynasty and the subsequent Republic, including Yuan Shikai.