Bottle ID: 690

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SU FENG-YI, RIVER SCENE WITH DUCKS

Date: 2007

Height: 59 mm

Glass, ink and watercolors, of flattened rectangular form, painted on the inside with on one side a river scene of three ducks on the water beside grassy banks, with the sun setting on the misty horizon; the reverse with three fragments, one of an ink rubbing with archaic calligraphy, the second fragment with lines of calligraphy, both above a miniature painting of a pine tree with a calligraphic inscription to one side.

Similar Examples:

Ma Zengshan. Inside Painted Snuff Bottle Artist Ma Shaoxuan [ 1867-1939 ], A Biography and Study, 1997, p. 100, fig. 94.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 2000, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 378-380, no. 580.
Su Feng-Yi. The Art of Inside Painting Chinese, "The ducks playing at the autumn's pool", painted 1997.

Provenance:

Su Feng-Yi

Su Feng-yi was born in Bei-tou in Hebei Province in autumn, 1960. As child he demonstrated a clear artistic talent, and studied calligraphy and painting. In 1978, he enrolled in the Bei-tou City Arts and Crafts Institute where he began to study the art of inside-painting. In 1985, he entered the Hebei School of Inside Painting and was taught by the founder of the School, Wang Xisan. In April 1988, he won the ‘Best of the Best ’ award in his Province in the category of animals, birds and flowers. The following October he won the first prize in the portrait category for the ‘Wang Xisan Cup’ and was appointed Adjunct Professor of the Xisan Studio. In November 1989, Su gave an exhibition and demonstration at the inauguration of the China Arts and Crafts Museum in Beijing.  Then in 1992, he was elected as the Hebei Province Master of Arts and Crafts and inducted into the Province’s “Who’s Who”. In 1995, he moved to Shanghai working at the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Company where his personal style became more pronounced. Su’s early work was mostly traditional following the themes of Chinese painting and poetry. His style was light and uncomplicated, his imagery leisurely and detached. After moving to Shanghai his later work was a self-proclaimed synthesis of traditional Chinese style combined with a Japanese painting style producing work that was clean, simple, reflective, pleasing and elegant with a broader horizon and a freer sense of imagery. It was his later more developed work that made him well-known internationally. In 1996 the Okinawa Television Network in Japan featured his work. In 1997, a piece entitled “Ten Dogs and Horses” was used by the German Telecommunication System on its worldwide calling cards. In 1999 he was elected as the Hebei Province Master of Inside-Painting and the following year began exhibiting annually at the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society’s Convention with great success.

This bottle painted in 2007 is a combination of the more traditional style of the Beijing School following masters like Ma Shaoxuan and Ding Erzhong by depicting miniature paintings, calligraphy or ink-rubbings in a formal symmetrical order on one side. These are known as “Bogo tu” (Pictures of Antiquities). For Ma in particular this seemed to be an introduction to the more complicated “Bapo” (Eight Brokens) compositions. The other side with its theme of ducks swimming is one that Su appears to enjoy painting as he has executed similar works over the years which show the development of his style.

 

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