Of Furry Animals and other Furry Thoughts at Christmas

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi  All

Sorry to  have been   not so  active  on the   forum these  past   few  weeks.  Although    now  in  semi-retirement  I have  been   drafted  into   along-term  strategy  project   which   requires   frequent  meetings  in the   USA.  That's  one  long haul   journey  I don't like   doing  economy class  . I had to   combine a  USA  trip   with a  long  visit to my parents  ( both  now in their   90's)    at end  of  Nov,   which required   a   round- the- world   trip, and that  knocked me out  for  half  of  December  because  I  just could  not  sleep  at  night.

But  anyway, the  world  of   MIPBs   continues  apace  !    

19 - 23 Dec  I had  heard  via  Jill  that  there  would  be  an  MIPB  exhibition  in BJ , and  fortunately I  had a  business  reason to be there  at that  time  where  I  also  met  Misu  who was    en  route to  SH

It  turned  out the   MIPB  exhibition  was  a  small  part  of a  much  larger    exhibition  :  The    15th   Beijing -  China  Antiques and  Art  Fair.  But  it   had  attracted   about   30  of the   top "middle  generation"  artists   aged    30  -  50  :    like Song Yiming,   Da  Yong,   Zhang Tieshan,   and even   Dong  Xue  had a  stand  ( although  I did not see  him in person) .  

The bottles   on display  were  a   strange  mixture  of    whole   sets  of bottles  e.g  Dong Xue  had    3  sets  of  portrait  bottles,    each  about  2  dozen  bottles  eg   presidents  of the  USA  : all exquisitely  painted, but  presumably  all  unsold   ( I did not  even dare to ask the  price )  A   few  other  artists  had  brought    a selection  of  their  latest    works, and I must say that  I saw  very  innovative  new   creations,  using  colours and  painting  techniques  that    are completely  new. Other  top   artists   seemed to  have   very little   available  for    display, so   presumably their recent works  have been selling  well  -  e.g  Song  Yiming and   Da  Yong.

It  was   fortunate  that I am currently   cash- strapped  because  otherwise  I  would  have    happily  bought  a  couple of   dozen bottles - indeed  anyone  with cash  could  have  made the   beginnings  of a  first class  VMIPB  collection based  on    cherry  picking the  best  of   each  artists  works  on  sale.

I also saw   something new  for me, because there  were   a  couple  of  stands taken  by the  guys  who   specialise in  selling pure  rock   crystal,  both  with and   without  mineral  inclusions. Some  of  these  were  just  irregular   fist-sized blobs  of  crystal, polished  on the  outside.  Thus it  was  up to the  artist to  decide  how to  have the    crystal  blob     shaped  into a  bottle  and    hollowed  out  in the  best  way to  exploit the  mineral  inclusions. Others  were   crystals  which had  already  been    shaped  into  bottles  and hollowed  out   ready for  painting.

 I have  never been  particularly  keen on these    natural  rock  crystal  bottles   with  inclusions  and   the  only one  I own  is    my     squirrel  bottle  by  Ma  Baoku  which he sold me  at a  bargain basement  price    about 3 years  ago ( I  have  posted  this bottle  before  on the   forum , and  almost every guest to my home   immediately   zeroes  in on it because it  really  is  "cute"  and the  mineral  inclusions  gleam  like   white gold  : I post  it   again now.  Richard  Baey   has    a  very  similar   bottle  by Ma  Baoku  with a  tiger  painting inside)  But this  time  I  saw   what  I thought  was  "the most beautiful"  crystal bottle  in the world : even the   stopper   was pure   crystal  with inclusions  so I asked   an  artist friend  to  buy it  for  me because  he  could   certainly get  a much better  price than I could,  and  I was  pleasantly  surprised     that the price  was  only  slightly more than  US$1K . I will keep that bottle   for a  really   special  paining  one   day  -  probably  one of  my  wife  when I have  selected the  best  artist

I  had   packed  some  RMB  cash  "just in case"  I  saw a  bottle  which  was   out of this   world / must buy, and  suddenly  there  it  was !  Although  I  focus  on    Chinese  landscapes   I  have a  small  collection of   spider,   birds and    especially Persian  chinchilla  cat bottles ,  having once  owned   8  Persian  cats  at one  time  (  2  x  golden,  2  x    white ,   2   x  "blue - grey"  and  2  x   black - white )  If  anyone has   studied   CIPMA  in detail  one  will know that probably  the most  beautiful   cat  MIPBs  painted   in the  past  10 years  are  by Ms Zhang  Keqin.  She  not only  has the   ability to  paint the   fur in   ultra-fine   detail, but  also   she  knows  how to paint  the   cat's faces   correctly -  which is  something for some  reason hardly   any  artists  can  do .  They can paint   dogs  faces,  but their  cats  come  out  like   Garfield  cartoons.

We  were   discussing   in another  thread  about    beautiful  panda  bottles  (  e.g.  in Charll's  collection )  and the   beautiful  fur  painting, so this   was  very much  on my  mind

Zhang   Keqin   came  to   HK    earlier this  year at CAC as visiting  artist of the  month and  brought a  few of   her  latest   cat bottles with her. They were  even better than the cat bottle  she  has  in CIPMA,  but  because of the   huge  CAC  mark-up   there  was no   way I could   even  consider   to  make  an offer  to  buy  one  of  them

But there  on her  shared  stand   in BJ  was  probably  the  most stunning    Persian  cat bottle  I   ever  saw !
The  bottle  was  only  painted  on  one  side  -  she  had only   sketched the  outline  of    two  cats faces  on the    B - side,  but I   nervously asked  if  I  could  buy the bottle  "as seen"  because  I would  only ever   display the  A-side. She said that   she had  worked  for  2  months    full-time   just on the  A-side, but then  named a  price  which  I thought  was  more than   reasonable  and   also happened to be  exactly the   RMB cash I  had  in my  pocket

As  someone   wrote  recently,  unless  your  heart  beats   like  crazy when   you see      that "one  in a million" bottle,  you  are not a    true  collector

Thus  I got my  Christmas  present  in an  unexpected   way !  ( It  was  also my exactly   300 th  bottle )

Best  wishes  to  you  all for  Christmas  and the  New Year - and  happy  collecting

Cheers
Peter

[Steven]

Hi Peter,

congratulations on your 300th bottle, its stunting and the detail of the fur is incredible, and I love the background as well, it let the cat stands out more.

So will you let the Zhang keqin finish the bottle for you or you will just let it as its?

Steven

[George]

Thus  I got my  Christmas  present  in an  unexpected   way !  ( It  was  also my exactly   300 th  bottle )

Best  wishes  to  you  all for  Christmas  and the  New Year - and  happy  collecting

Cheers
Peter

Congrats on your 300th !

Happy Hollidays Peter !

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi Steven

I  already  decided    just to leave the  bottle  as  it  is 

It  really  is  spectacular,  and   as  you   point out  the   background   accentuates the  cat

In due  course  I want to   ask  ms  Zhang  if  she  copied the   whole  painting   from a   canvas painting or  if  she  just  copied the cat from a  photo and then   filled  out the  background

I attach a  photo  taken at the  exhibition  of  "Spiderman "   - Zhang Limin,  Catwoman -   Zhang  Keqin  , and  me

Cheers

Peter

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi  Steven, All

I  just  called   Zhang  Keqin

She  said that the  bottle   was  certainly  not   copied  point-to-point   from a   full  scale  canvas  painting

Rather, she   saw a  photo  of  a   Persian   cat  in a  book  (  hundreds  of  such  books   are   printed  by    cat  lovers) , and then  using the  photo  as    model  for the  overall  shape and  size,  she   as  it  were  "fleshed out"  or  rather    "fluffed  out"  the  whole  body .  Finally she  created  the  background  herself

From my  experience   with   raising  Persian  cats, several  of  which were   pedigrees   (and  my  Uncle   was a  top  UK  breeder  of  Persian  cats for competition  and  just because  he    loved  cats)  I can tell  you that   every  pedigree  cat   hits a  peak  in its  coat,  usually  quite    early  in life , and at that  peak the   fluffiness  and  thickness of the   coat   and tail  is   almost  surreal.   The  cat in this  painting is   - in my opinion  - a  young, male 
cat , certainly a  pedigree,   and    very probably a  "best of  show",   which is  probably  where the  original  photo  was taken

Next time  I  go to  Hengshui  I will   ask  ZKQ for   a  copy of the   original  photo.

But  in the  meantime, as I  told  ZKQ  this  evening  on the  phone  -  I   have never  counted the  number  of   pics  of  bottles  in my data  base , but it  must be   well over   10,000, maybe  even  20,000, and    every  single  bottle  pic  I  studied  as I  either   downloaded  it  or  scanned/ cropped/  titled  from an  artist's   book  or  catalogue. But I never  saw  a  bottle  even  remotely as  beautiful  as  this  one  before.

Sometimes   I   swallow  when  I    fall  head over  heels  in love    with a  bottle  and  dare to  ask the price ( it  was the  same  with my  most prized  Fu  Guoshun  which  cost  me  two  arms and   a   leg) .  But  in nearly  every case   I   feel later that  I made the    right  decision  at the   time  and   I   don't  regret  one  iota of what I  spent  at  the  time

Talking of   hitting my  300th  bottle,  I  am planning to  photograph my complete   collection   properly  all   in the  next  2  years   as  I   go through  semi  retirement  ( full  retirement  by end of  2014)  , because  I think I have    finally  found  a  simple  way  at home to do this   after   3  years of   experiments.  And  if  Bill  Patrick   agrees   I will  upload them  all  into his   amazing  website   www. snuffbottlecollector.com ,  marking  those that  are for   sale   at  reasonable  prices  - which means  at least   what  I originally paid +  the   bottle price and   general  inflation  factor   which is  roughly  2 x  in the  past  5  years.   In this   way  I   hope to    re-distribute   at  least   1/3  of my collection  to    other  collectors   who  certainly cannot   find  such good  bottles   at   affordable  prices  any  longer, and thus   re-cycle the    funds  to  focus  my collection   down  to   such  superb  examples  as  this truly  amazing     Persian  cat  bottle (  one- sided  though  it  is  ..  though  I  think that  kind  of  makes  it  unique  in  more than  one  way ! )

This   Forum  started  in  early  2011 /  which  means  we  are  about to  hit  our  2nd   anniversary

What  amazing  progress  we  have all made  in those   2  years,  and  what great   fun  we  have  had  !

I am  a  paid  up  member  of the   ICSBS,  but  I cannot   write to  their  journal  and  enthuse  is  such  simplistic  but  totally  genuine   terms   about a    furry  cat  bottle   . But  on the   Forum  I can do  so !

I  propose a  huge  vote   of thanks  for   George  and   all he   has  done  for  us  

Best  wishes  for the  New  year  of the   SNUFF  BOTTLE

Cheers

Peter

PS :  It's  now   official  :  the   ICSBS   2014  annual  convention   will  be  held  in   Hong  Kong and   Xian,  with  an  optional   extension   tourist  trip to   BJ.  The    dealer's  room  will  be     arranged  in HK  ( only)   for   simplicity  of   import/ export  of   antique  bottles.    But  I  promise to  arrange    an extension   tour  to   Hengshui and   Shijiazhuang   for   any  Forum  members  who     join  as  part of the  ICSBS    convention,  or  who just come  as   free-lance for the   ride

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

Dear Peter,
   Congratulations on your beautiful new Persian Cat bottle, on your 300th bottle, and on your great attitude. You were missed on the Forum (although everyone understands the reasons), and we hope you'll be much more active again.
   Incidentally, I disagree that you couldn't have written to the Journal of the ICSBS and enthused like that. It is just that some people would snicker. So what. F--- them. I've never hidden my feelings or opinions in the Society and in the Journal. And I've never had a real problem.
   It could be that, if I'd been more circumspect, I would have been co-opted on the Board years  up to 20 years earlier than I was  (I joined the ICSBS in 1974, at 17; went to my first convention in 1978, at 21; had my first museum exhibition in 1987, at 30; second exhibition in 1989, at 32; third exhibition in 1994, at 37; fourth exhibition in 1998, at 41; was voted onto the Board in 2007, at 50, the same year as my 5th exhibition... and having missed only 5 conventions in 34 years of attending them, all for family or Religious reasons).  But, I refused to compromise my opinions, and it was worth it.  
  Having said all that, you can say what you want on the Forum, and no one will snicker (well, actually, I might! Now if you'd had Purebred Siamese or Burmese on those bottles, that would be totally different!).
  Joey

[deelsb26]

oh peter, you made my heart beat faster just looking at your lovely persian bottle!!!! I love all of them, the kitten in the mirror makes me drool!!!
wow....congrats...LOVE THEM...thanks for sharing!
Danna
ps I'm a little envious! Keep me in mind if you ever want "relocate" the kitten in the mirror ...I know you will never part with the persian...I wouldn't either.

[rpfstoneman]

Peter,

Hope you had a wonderful holiday and my best wishes to you and your family in the New Year.  Thanks for sharing the pics and the details of what you saw at the exhibition.  Love your new bottle, not for the subject matter (I'm not much of a cat person), but as an illustration of a completed painting on one side and a 'work in progress' on the other.  Would loved to had the opportunity to purchase both some rock crystal bottle blanks and the stone material in the rough.  That's what made me drool.  God willing and with some improvement in the economy I plan to see you in 2014.

Charll

   

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi Dana

Zhang  Keqin's  Kitten in  the  mirror   bottle   was  painted and  sold  many years   ago to I don't know   whom (  certainly not to me).   I  scanned the    pic  from   Wang  Xisan's  CIPMA   : Chinese   Inside  Painting of the  Modern  Age,  which is  the   VMIPB   Bible  (  or  at least  the  OT  of  VMIPB)  

If you   want a  copy of  the  CIPMA  book I can  arrange to sell  you  one .  I bought  up  David  Osborne's  old  stock a  couple  of  years  ago and they are now  with  Bill  Patrick  in  USA

But  ...  you can commission   artists to     repaint  bottles, which are  identical or  or  even   better than  the  original

Many  artists   develop   an iconic  bottle  which  they   paint  several times   in their  lifetime,  each  time better   than   before.  e.g  Song  Shi  (  Jiang Hongliang)   chose  "Red Sun"  as his  iconic  bottle   and it  appears  on the  cover  of   almost every  catalogue  he  publishes  and his name card.  I have  one   version of Red  Sun  ( in fact the  latest  one, painted   about  5  years  ago ).  Bill  Patrick  has  a  much  earlier  version (2002) .

This  is  what  Song Shi  wrote to me   about "Red Sun" when  I asked  him how many times  he painted  it

______________________________

Let me introduce about the snuff bottle of "Red Sun":

1.The snuff bottle "Red Sun" you’ve bought from me at HK is one of my most satisfied art works, however, it is not the one in  Wang  Ziyong's  book. Since I’ve painted two pieces at that time, one was showed on that book, another is the most satisfied one was kept with me, which is the  one sold to you later at HK in 2010. You may do some comparison, from the photo in that book, its branches are rather stiff and rigid, is not bright. Yours is much better on ink level, colour charm, and overall effect than the one on that book. That one in the  book was sold at Nov. 2007.

2.You’ve referred that one in your U.S. friend's hand, should be painted by me if he was bought from Mr. Wang Guanyu. You may compare it with yours, yours is much better than that one. Although Mr. Wang Guanyu is my teacher, he guided me to do the work of painting. That one was painted out under his guidance, but my art level was limited at that time, its quality is much lower than my recent works.

3.You’ve asked about how many pieces I have done my painting for snuff bottles. My answer is: I have painted several pieces for teacher Mr. Wang Guanyu before 2002, it was my starting stage for that pattern, the technique, level and knowledge was lower, of course, the price was lower too. I can’t remember how many pieces I have painted and sold on that time, but all of them the levels are not so high as the present one. I did not paint this type snuff bottles for others after 2002, only three pieces were painted from 2002 till now. I’ve sold one to an HK man at HK Yue Hwa domestic Products at Feb. 2003. The second one was the one at that book, sold at 2007. The last one is this one of my most satisfied art works which you’ve bought on Feb. 2010. Its picture has been used on my name card, on HK propagates booklet, and the picture of snuff bottle "Red Sun" on the propaganda picture album of the Chinese famous expert inside-bottle painting high-quality goods exhibition hold at ZhongFu antique city - the biggest antique city in Shanghai now. This picture album I can also send to you with my signature.

4.It is not so easy to our artist to form its style for an art work, each piece of our work is the crystallization of efforts, we use our own ideal and pursuit to depict each one works, we may paint several mores for good works, it is an indisputable fact in inside-painting community, but it is impossible do doodling unlimited, we also will keep certain restraint, to protect the benefit of collectors and the value of works itself.

Thanks,
                        
Jiang HongLiang   (8 July 2010)

________________________________________


PS : If you   really  want  a  re-paint  of the  kitten  in the  mirror  I can  get   you a  price   quote   from Zhang  Keqin  but it  will   certainly  be a  couple  of  US$ K.  You  can   email me  directly  about  this  (  look for my  email  address  in the   Forum  directory ).  There's  nothing confidential  about  prices  and I certainly    don't take  any  commission -  just that   I think  artists   would  prefer to  keep  it out of the  public   domain,  especially  if they  give a "friendship" price as  good will  to one  collector  via   another collector.

[Peter Bentley 彭达理]

Hi Charll

If you  do come in  2014   I'm sure it  would  be possible  to  visit  one of the  guys   who   sell   rock  crystal.

They  are  based  in  south  east China,  but often  come to   BJ and   Hengshui

I would  be interested to   follow  up  on this   as well,  just  out  of  academic interest

Cheers

Peter

[Tom B.]

Hi Peter,  

Congratulations on finding such a beautiful masterpiece and the timing couldn't have been better.  That was certainly a nice surprise for Christmas.  The fur could not be more realistic even down to the occasional stray hairs.  The backside is exceptionally intriguing since it shows the amount of imagination an IPSB artist needs to have.  That could be an idea for a really cool bottle with a sketch on one side and the same picture complete on the other.  

So glad that you are still having fun over there and I Hong Kong 2014 sound very enticing.  I will seriously have to see if I can manage that one.  

Best of luck to you in 2013 and the future,

Tom B.

P.S. Hope you don’t mind my saying that your photo immediately reminded me of one of the UK’s most popular singers – Phil Collins.