AN INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Liu Shouben, 2001
Of rounded form with a cylindrical neck and an oval footrim, the narrow sides with mock-mask-and ring handles, painted on the inside using ink and watercolors with on one main side a 'hundred boys' scene with boys playing in a fenced garden outside a pavilion, some boys chasing butterflies, others playing 'blind man's bluff', continued on the reverse side with boys in various painting pursuits on the grassy bank of a lake overhung with trees, signed Liu Shouben with one red seal,yin and dated; stopper.
2 in (5.4 cm) high
Footnotes:
辛已年 (2001) 劉守本 水晶内畫百子圖鼻煙壺一件
《劉守本》款

Provenance:
Jie Guo, October 2006
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 350

Liu Shouben (b. 1943) was one of the four inside-painted artists, along with Wang Xisan, Ye Shuyin and Ding Guiling, who was taught by Ye Xiaofeng and Ye Bengqi. Children at play was one of his favorite subject matters and he depicted this happy scene with great skill. In 1984 Liu was honored as a 'Beijing Arts and Crafts Master' and it is through him that the Beijing School of inside-painting has flourished.

An exceedingly well painted bottle in very good condition.