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Charll shared this beautiful Xianfeng (1851-1861) dated bottle depicting NeZha combating the Dragon King amongst a rolling sea of blue and eight mythical sea creatures.


Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇
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Looking for a copy..

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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« on: September 18, 2015, 08:17:31 pm »

Hi  Folks  ...

You  surely  won't  believe  this    but  I was  actually  THERE and  my   wife   even  got a  copy  of the  catalog  personally   signed   by  Wang  Xisan  and  addressed  to her   ! 

Not  just  THERE  but  I even   wrote the  English  translation  of the  preface   and  was  the  only   Westerner  at the  opening  ceremony  and  was  even  mentioned  by name  in the  list  of  "notables "  attending   ("From England - world famous  snuff  bottle  collector  Dr Peng Da  Li"    Ha  ha  !   Grin Grin Grin Grin Grin

It  all   started  as  bit  of a  mystery  :  Jill   told  me   about the   exhibition   a  couple  of  months  ago  when  she and  Li Hui  came to  stay   with us  at our  second  home  in  China (Wenzhou)  and   asked  if  I  and my wife  would  like to  visit  BJ  to see   the   exhibition.  At the   time  I  did not  give it  much  thought   and  later   forgot  all about  it.

Then  suddenly  out of the  blue  Jill  sent  me  something to translate  into   good   English   "by return  email URGENT -    PLEASE!"   I had  no idea   what it  was  about and it  was   written  in very erudite  Chinese   which made   translation   more  of  an  art  than a  science  (Steven   will  know  what I mean  because  of the   days .... weeks  we  spent  trying to   translate  Wang Guanyu's   introduction    to  Yuan  Shijia) 

Jill  and I   went  through  about  6  or  7  drafts before  she  finally  decided  it  was  OK (or the  publishing deadline  had   passed - or  both)

Next  thing  was  a  phone  call from  Jill out of the  blue    inviting me  and    my wife  to  go to  BJ  last weekend to see the  exhibition,  which  I   somewhat  reluctantly   accepted  little  knowing  what  an epic  we  would  have  missed  had   we  declined.

There  were  back -to -back   dinners  and  lunches  and  the  very first  dinner   on the  evening before  the  exhibition after a  very  long rush hour  traffic  jam  drive  we  arrived   at  a  traditional  restaurant  to  find  ourselves  sitting next to......  Wang Xisan (also his  son  Wang  Ziyong) ,  Liu Shouben  and  Zhang Tieshan   all  at  one  single table *. 

I  kid  you  NOT !   Talk about sitting  with  Royalty !  (Glad that  my  Mandarin was  up to scratch)

It   turns  out that  the  Jing  School  is  being  revived  with  a  lot of  support  from the  Bejing  municipal  government    and  that  Li  Hui and  Jill  were   asked  to  organize the   exhibition as   the kick-start   event.
Apparently   there   will  be  some  new  students  enrolled  in   a  special  School   soon to be   formed  -  presumably   with    Liu  Shouben's   support.

WXS and  LSB    left  after the  day  1   festivities    but  Zhang Tieshan   stayed   on for a  couple  of  days   and  joined  us  on  our  last evening   in what  was  probably  one of   THE best  / most  fun  meals  I ever  had  in  BJ  :  a  kind  of  open  air   roasted  lamb  eatery   which   was  joined   by a  young  couple  (Tommy and  Monika)  who  it  seems   were  the  last   ever  Jing  School  artists of the previous  generation,  before  they  resigned   from the  Jing  School  and   went into  other  business 

I  joked  with  Zhang  Tieshan    as  we  went to the   loo  together   after  one too many  beers  :  "Do  I know  Master  Zhang Tieshan,  Grand  Master  of  the  Qin  School ?  Yes  of course  I know  him !  We  even  pissed  together ! " )   

Joking aside  -  I  have  had  more   fun  through  meeting  people  :  fellow  collectors (Singapore!) ,   artists (Hengshui !)  ....whatever   than I ever  had    in  actually  collecting  bottles.

That's  REAL   life  !

China  is  WONDERFUL ! 

I  have  loads  of  pics   from last  weekend  - far too  many  to  even  begin to  post  on the  Forum

Li Hui   told  me  he  can send me a  soft  copy  of the  catalog  which  I  will  eventually   include  in  my  DB

The  only sad  thing   about the   whole  exhibition   was that  the  lighting  in the  museum was   so  dim  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to see the  bottles  clearly  behind the  thick  panes  of  glass

Cheers

Peter

___________

* STEVEN  :  It  was  at that   dinner  that  I  took  Wang  Ziyong aside  and  agreed  that  we ( me,  Wang Ziyong,  Wang Xisan ,  Jill  and  Li Hui   ....)    would "somehow"  publish  my  2  -  part  ICSBS  article  in Chinese   throughout  China.  ICSBS  copyright  issues  be  damned !

 Particularly  because deep  inside the article towards  the  end  of  Part 1   is the  greatest  compliment  I  can ever give  to  Wang  Xisan  :  his real    gift  to  us is  not  his  own  personally- painted  works

It  is  his   generations  and   their  generations  of generations   students 

Please   just  make a   free-flowing   easy-reading   translation  of  my  2 - part  articles.  It  does  not  have  to be  a  "literal"   translation .  I just  want  the  "feeling"  to be  passed  on  and I  cannot  think  of  anyone  better  than  you  to  do  so,  with  great  respect and many thanks     Cheesy

Eventually  -  if  George   agrees  and  it  can be  done  technically  -   I would  like the   article   in both English and  Chinese  to be  some  how  pinned   into the   Forum  side  bar as a   permanent  link  -  a  bit  like  Wikipedia   -  so it  will  outlive  me  in  cyberspace  when  I  am just  a  small  urn  of  ashes  in a  mountain side  near  Wenzhou


 






 
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