The Departure of Curly Whiskers
Bottle: 1780–1903
Painting: Family of Ma Shaoxuan, Beijing, Third Month, 1903
Height: 5.6 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.52/1.50 and 1.32 cm (oval)
Stopper: Tourmaline; vinyl collar
Provenance:
Yee Woo Co., Hong Kong (1979)
Gerd Lester (1986)
Bloch Collection
Bonham’s, Hong Kong 28 November 2011, lot 97
Published:
Kleiner 1995, no. 415
Moss, Graham, and Tsang 2000, no. 588
Exhibited:
British Museum, London, June–November 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
Christie’s, London, 1999
Flawless crystal, ink, and watercolours; with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding rounded foot rim; painted on one main side with Curly Whiskers leading his donkey away from a fenced household, from the window of which watch Li Jing and the courtesan Hongfu nü, a large mature pine tree in the foreground partly framing the scene, with blossoming trees beyond, inscribed in regular script with the title San xia tu 三俠圖 (‘Three Knights Errant’), the other main side painted with Tao Yuanming 陶淵明admiring a jardinière with chrysanthemums growing in it while his attendant kneels, holding a jar, possibly of water, beside another jardinière with calamus, inscribed in regular script Shi zai guimao chun sanyue, wei Yiqing erxiong daren zuo, Ma Shaoxuan 時在癸卯春三月，為義卿二兄大人正，馬少宣作於京師 (‘Executed by Ma Shaoxuan at the capital in spring, in the third month of the year guimao for the approval of Yiqing, an honourable elder acquaintance’), with two seals of the artist, one, Shao, in negative seal script, the other, xuan, in positive seal script
