Atomo Collection

• Glass
  
  
• Pear shaped
  
  
• Inside painted with three rams under a willow tree with the full sun above. The other side with an inscription, signed Ma Shaoxuan, dated Bing Shen Year (1896), with a seal:
  
  "Composed at the Capital city
  hundreds of sight, as I look at flowers everywhere without restraint
  as I wave my arms about, everywhere I touch are signs of spring
  vines are growing, as the mountains afar come alive
  
  The Bing Shen year (corresponding to 1896) is starting earnest,
  accompanied by neighboring nightingales.
  
  Ma Shaoxuan."
  
  The rebus formed by the three rams under the sun (sanyang kaitai) refers to the New Year ushering in renewal and a change of fortune or prosperity (see "Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art", Terese Tse Bartholomew, page 278).

Period

• 1896

Size

• Height cm. 5.2
• Mouth cm. 0.5
• Lip cm. 1.5

Stopper

• Coral with green ring

Provenance

• Robert Hall, Seattle Convention, 15 October 1977
• Charles V. Swain collection
• Christie's Paris - 10 June 2009 - Lot n. 110

Exhibited

• 41st Convention I.C.S.B.S., Dublin, October 2009
• Palazzina delle Arti: Museo del Sigillo (Seal Museum), La Spezia - Italy, November 2010 - January 2011

Published

• Journal ICSBS - Autumn 2009 - Vol XXXXI number 2 - P. 37 - Fig. 8
• Atomo Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Foti, no. 24, p. 29

Comparison

• Inkplay in Microcosm - The Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection" No. 36