The Three Rams
The Collection > Inside Painted
- 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
Size
- Height cm. 5.2
- Mouth cm. 0.5
- Lip cm. 1.5
Stopper
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