Two Chinese Interior Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Ma Shaoxuan, Late 19th-Early 20th Century
晚清-民國馬少宣玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Late 19th-early 20th Century

The first of rounded-rectangular form, the shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, with a flat lip and protruding oval footrim; depicting three sages conversing beneath a pine tree, the reverse with a 28-character poem, signed by Ma Shaoxuan. The poem may be translated as:
You ask me why I dwell in the mountains purely green;
I smile in silence with mind footloose and fancy-free,
Murmuring streams flow away with blossoms of peach;
Here is a heavenly land of difference with peace and joy.

The second dated seventh month 1898, signed by Ma Shaoxuan; of rounded-rectangular form, the shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, with a flat lip and protruding oval footrim, the front interior-painted with a flowering begonia, a dragonfly above; the reverse with a 32-character poem, signature, date and seal. The poem may be translated as:
Flowers are flourishing on the Eastern wall
Happily I open the window to enjoy the soothing breeze
Whereas the fireflies are flying around like sparks
The fragrance seeps through the curtains in the long night

Height of largest without stopper 2 1/4 in., 5.7 cm.

Property from the Estate of Dr. Thomas A. Klein, MD., Sold to benefit the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

This lot is located in New York.

Property from the Estate of Dr. Thomas A. Klein, MD. Sold to benefit the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
The first was acquired from Sotheby’s New York, February 26, 1983, lot 22. The second was acquired from Sotheby’s New York, November 3, 1982, Lot 267.
來源：
Thomas Klein醫生遺產，拍賣所得歸Jefferson醫院。
右：紐約蘇富比1983年2月26日專場第22號。
左：紐約蘇富比1982年11月3日專場第267號。

湯姆·克萊因醫生收藏鼻烟壺逾四十年。他畢業於哈佛大學與羅徹斯特大學，曾於美國陸軍擔任婦產科醫師並出任高階領導職務。其後於傑佛遜醫院服務三十年，2023年以婦產科副主任身分榮退，期間培養了五百餘名住院醫師與無數醫學生。他的學術與臨床精神延續於以其名設立的「Thomas A. Klein 講席教授」，本場拍賣所得亦歸於傑佛遜醫院。

Tom Klein’s life was shaped by two enduring passions: medicine and the collecting of snuff bottles. While these worlds rarely intersected, both were marked by the same qualities—quiet dedication, discernment, and grace.

Tom was unfailingly modest–when the I.C.S.B.S. held its convention in Philadelphia, he entrusted me to select bottles from his collection for the exhibition “Embers of the East,” a task made challenging by the number of exceptional bottles. His passion for collecting was thoughtful rather than acquisitive, grounded in appreciation rather than display. These were his companions—objects he handled, studied, and loved for over 40 years.

Professionally, Tom enjoyed an equally distinguished career. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Rochester, he served as an obstetrician-gynecologist in the U.S. Army in senior leadership roles. He spent thirty years at Jefferson Hospital, retiring in 2023 as Vice Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, having trained more than five hundred residents and countless medical students. His legacy continues through the Thomas A. Klein, MD Professorship in Quality and Safety in Women’s Health.

To those who knew him as a collector, these accomplishments mirrored the man I admired: principled, generous, and exacting without pretension. Over the 35 years I had the privilege to know him, he was a gentleman in the most absolute sense of the word. Though he is deeply missed, his presence endures in the objects he cherished and in our shared love of snuff bottles.
Clare Chu

Two Chinese Interior Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Ma Shaoxuan, Late 19th-Early 20th Century晚清-民國 馬少宣玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Two Chinese Interior Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Ma Shaoxuan, Late 19th-Early 20th Century
晚清-民國馬少宣玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支