Two Chinese Interior-Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Circa 1898-1940
1898-194年玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Circa 1898-1940

The first painted by Ma Shaoxuan, dated Summer of 1898. Of miniature rounded-rectangular form, the shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, with a flat lip and protruding oval footrim, the interior painted in ink and colors to depict, on one side, a bird perched on the stalk of a lotus plant, a dragonfly hovering above, the reverse with a poem in regular script by the Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxin entitled “Visit [to] Xanadu Temple Again.” The inscription may be translated as:
The garden of a hundred acres is half covered by moss.
There’s no more peach blossoms; only cauliflowers grow.
Where did the Taoist who had planted the peach trees go?
The young Liu who had been here before now returns

The second, signed by Ye Bengqi with one seal, circa 1920-1940. The smokey crystal of rounded-rectangular form, with a cylindrical neck, flat lip and protruding oval footrim, colorfully decorated to depict, on one main side, a bird about to land on a lychee branch, the reverse with a long-tailed bird on a peach bough

Height of largest without stopper 2 5/16 in., 5.9 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: A Malaysian collection, Susan Page, London.

Acquired from the above, September 2018.

The second: Collection of Maria and Johannes Nickl, sold at Zacke Auction, Vienna, Austria, October 11, 2023, lot 369, acquired from the above.

來源：

Thomas Klein醫生遺產，拍賣所得歸Jefferson醫院。

左：馬蘭西亞舊藏，2018年購自倫敦Susan Page行。

右：Maria及Johannes Nick夫婦舊藏。

奧地利Zacke拍賣行2023年10月11日專場第369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, Circa 1898-19401898-194年 玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Two Chinese Interior-Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Circa 1898-19401898-194年 玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Two Chinese Interior-Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Circa 1898-1940
1898-194年玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支

Two Chinese Interior-Decorated Glass Snuff Bottles, Circa 1898-1940
1898-194年玻璃内畫鼻烟壺兩支