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The Forum is a - rocking !

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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« on: January 29, 2014, 09:14:47 am »

Hi All

Today  two big   surprises !

1.  I met  up   with  Geoff    in HK.  He  came  back to my  home  and  he   brought   with  him several   of  his   MIPB   bottles    -  some  pretty  amazing   stuff .  REALLY ! 

Next  stop is  that  I  go  to  Geoff's    home  when he  has  finished   renovation    and   our  Chinese   wives   chat  while   we    do the   IPB  thing  ( or vice  versa depending  on how  long  Geoff's   renovation   takes )   

Main point  is  that  AT  LAST  I  have  met  up  with a  fellow , like-minded   VMIPB   collector  in HK ! 


The  Forum  Rules  OK ? 


2. Surprise  #2    :  George  posted   that  truly  amazing    Persian  Cat  pic  bottle  on the  side  bar 

There's  a  very  big   story behind  that    cat  bottle...

If  you   research  Zhang  Keqin   you   will   quickly see  that  she  is  " Miss  Cat" 

Even  in  CIPMA  she   exhibits   her    purr-fect    cat  pics as  her   suprmeme skill.  And  as  a  one-time  house-hold "owner"  of  eight  Persian  cats  I  can  vouch  for the  fact  that  Ms Zhang   has  faithfully  captured  true  cat  faces,  unlike most  other   cat  MIPBs ( even  by Wang  Xisan)   which  look  like  Tom and  Jerry  cartoons .  It  is  truly  very  hard  to  paint  a  cat  (especially  a  Persian  cat)  unless   one  has  really   lived   with   such a   cat 

Well   ...  the  story...  it  was   a    frigid   December   2012   and there  was   an  exhibition  of  Chinese   Arts  and  crafts    at the   Agricultural   Exhibition   Hall  in BJ .  I  went  to  see  the  exhibition  because   Jill  Guo Jie    said there  was a  sub-section   devoted  to  IPBs. Indeed  there   was    such,  and  Jill's  Husband, Li Hui,  hosted  a   great  Japanese   lunch  for  all the    artists    who  were  there .

 Aaaaah  those  were  the  days  my friend....  !

I later   took a  walk on a  frozen  pond   with  Da  Yong /  Zhang Yong  :  the  craziest  but  perhaps  the  most  talented    artist  in  Hengshui  today .  I must  find the  pic  and  post  it ....

At the  exhibition    Zhang  Keqin  had  shared a   booth   with  my  all-time   hero  Song Yiming. They often  partner together on  exhibitions  because  they  have  a   similar    style  .  Very  refined  and   detailed 

 On  one  shelf  was    this  totally   AMAZING   Persian  cat  bottle .   I  just  took  one  blink  and  fell  in   total  love   with  the  bottle 

Zhang  Keqin  was  there  at the  stand  so  I  asked  her  how much  to  buy  the  bottle .
She  protested   and  turned  the  bottle    around    to  show  that the  back  side   was  only  sketch -  outlined   using  some    beautiful   stone-shaped   flaws  in the  natural  crystal  bottle . So  as  far  as  she  was  concerned,  the  bottle  was  only  half - finished.  She  said  she  had   spent   two months  just  on the  A-sde

I  "demanded" an  on the   spot   price  because  I  said  that  the  bottle  was  so  beautiful  on the  A-side   that  I  would never   exhibit  the  B- side   even  if   completed.  Ms  Zhang  named a   price   which  was   exactly  the   RMB  I  had  with   me  at that  time.  EXACTLY !

Later,  Ms  Zhang  came  to  HK  as a  sponsored   artist-of-the-month by  China  Arts  and  Crafts     so I  asked  her to   write  the   history  of  how  it  was  I  bought  this  bottle    on the  un-completed  B- side.

So  if  ever  there is/ was  a  unique  bottle  it's  this  one  :   the  A-side  probably  THE  most  beautiful  Persian  cat   bottle  ever  painted  and   the  B-side    a  story.

The  new  "CIPMA"  book    which came  out  in 9.2012 (unfortunately  only  in  Chinese   and  the  book  is  exclusively  the  Ji  School  I have   scanned    it  if  you  want a   soft copy  and it  is  now  encoded  into  my DB )    featured   Zhang  Keqin .  And  there,  prime  of  place,  was    this  unique  Persian  Cat bottle   !

So  I think  that  this   truly   beautiful cat bottle   deserves  it's  prime    slot  in the   side  bar  of the  Forum

Zhang  Keqin   张克芹   Watch  this   space....

Cheers
Peter

 



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« Last Edit: January 29, 2014, 09:53:08 am by Peter Bentley 彭达理 » Report Spam   Logged

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wgeoff
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« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2014, 03:23:23 pm »

I saw this bottle at Peter's home yesterday. It really is a spectacular bottle from the front with two ghost-like cat outlines on the back.

And I'm not a cat lover (birds are my hobby, feathered variety but wild)

Geoff
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Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
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« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2014, 05:57:10 pm »

Dear Peter,
   I love cats, but not Persians or other long-haired breeds. I love Siamese and Burmese, and Abyssinians. The latter is funny, because ALL the wild feral cats in Israel look like purebred Abyssinians! And I stay far away, in order not to get 'Cat-Scratch Fever', which is endemic in the Middle East.
  But your bottle is a stunner. Thank you for posting it.
Joey
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Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2014, 06:49:34 pm »

Hi  Joey,  Geoff

That  cat  bottle  is   one  of  the   very  few   bottles  in my  collection   that I  would  NEVER   part   with  , not  for  love  nor money

PRICELESS !

Cheers
Peter
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Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司
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« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2014, 08:08:42 pm »

Dear Peter,
   Did anyone offer to buy it?  Huh    Grin
Joey

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Joey Silver (Si Zhouyi 義周司), collecting snuff bottles since Feb.1970

Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2014, 10:16:06 pm »

Hi  Joey

No.....   because     the   price  is   PRICELESS 

Get  my   drift ?

Cheers
Peter
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Wattana
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« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2014, 02:30:45 am »

I wonder why PRICELESS and VALUELESS mean opposite things?  Huh
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Collecting since 1971

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