AN EXTREMELY RARE INSIDE-PAINTED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLEMa Shaoxuan Signed, 1895-1920 One main face painted with four rabbits at a fenced garden with morning glory, the reverse side with a neatly-written 32-character inscription followed by the signature and seal Shaoxuan ; stopper. 2in (5cm) high 1895-1920 馬少宣 玻璃内畫花籬玉兔帶銘文鼻烟壺 Provenance: Alice W. Smith, Florida Etude Jutheau, Paris, 13 October 1995, lot 106 Exhibited: International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 63 This extremely rare subject is extraordinarily painted in the minutest of detail with a gathering of headstrong little rabbits in an enclosed garden with morning glory. The danger of this naughty excursion into the fenced-off allotment is almost palpable in the perked ears and alert poses of the otherwise cuddly white rabbits. Again, we see another side to Ma's painting style, a far cry from the direct realism of his portraits. The Tang dynasty poem written to the reverse by Sikong Tu (834-903) "decorous and dignified" does not seem to allude to the depiction on the other side. No other Ma bottle of this subject appears to be published.