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The Most Beautiful Inside Painted Bottle in the World : by Fu Guoshun

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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« on: April 06, 2011, 11:57:29 pm »

Hello   again All,

This  Forum is  really  great  !  Many thanks to  George  for  setting  it  up.  I have already  made  two new  friends  :  Richard  in Singapore, and  also   Patriek  , who  may  possibly   join me on my next trip to   Hengshui  end  of   May ( also to  attend the opening  of  Wang Xisan's  Museaum in Beijing    Fri  27  May )

Now, as a  passionate  ( but  still  very  amateur)  collector,   passion born of  pure  love,  and  having finally mastered the   art of  posting  pictures  ( as  opposed to  attaching  pics, which  is  easy   if  you     click the   " additional options"    tab on bottom  left  hand  and   then  go    to  " Attach"  which  works  like  any   email/ hotmail    Attach   function )   please   let me  post  my  most-favorite,  most-loved ,  most- beautiful  bottle, painted  by   Grand  Master  Fu Guoshun, who is now   58  and   still creating   and painting the  most amazing new   styles .  I saw this  bottle  at the   Yantai  2009   Asian  Collectors     Exhibition   where  Master  Fu  had a   stand  among   the    12    special  stands  for   current   Grand  Masters and  I was  mesmerised   by  it.   I spent  hours    gazing  at this  bottle - surely   " best  of   show"   and   even  " best  in the  world    for  pure  originality,  beauty  and  skill "  I later  learned that   Fu Guoshun spent  a  year   creating it.

I was  determined ,   if this  bottle  was  for  sale  at  all  (  at  first   Master  Fu  said  it  was  not for sale)   to  buy it   as   the  Bible  says  :  " The  Pearl  of  Great  Price, for   which one  will sell all other  pearls"

On my next  trip to  Hengshui,  I arranged  an introduction to  Master  Fu   via  another    senior artist   and close   friend :  Li  Shouxun  . And  after  Master  Fu  understood  that  I was  totally  and  crazily  in love  with  his  work, and this bottle  in particular , he   agreed  to  sell it to me.  He  named a  price , which  I cannot  repeat, except to  say that  it  was  very  fair and  probably  a  fraction  of  what he  could   have sold  the  bottle  for  to a  super- rich  collector  ( I am   certainly  not  rich !)  I  had  carried   wads  of  RMB  to   Hengshui  and   the  price  he  asked   was   almost  exactly all that  I had  in my back-pack  .  And so I bought  this  Masterpiece.

 Smiley Smiley Smiley

Since  then,  Master  Fu  came to    my little apartment  in HK  for  hot pot  last year  when he  was  visiting  HK and    exhibiting  at  CAC  ( China  Arts  and  Crafts) -  Tsimshatsui.   I bought   several  more  of  his  amazing bottles   at that  time ,  and  now  he  is  in HK  again  at  CAC, and  I  will  buy  still  more  of  his   amazing  bottles .

Please  forgive me   for  going a  little  crazy  in this  posting . But  it seems   to me  there  only two  kinds  of  collectors   : those    who collect  for  investment  ( which is  quite  OK)   and  those  who collect for  pure  love .  I am  firmly  in the   latter  category ...  and  always   a  little    crazy  when in love. So  I hope that  via  this    Forum  I can meet  other   collectors  of  Inside- Painted    Bottles  ( IPBs)   who share a   similar  passion  as   do  I,  Bill (  snuffbottlecollector) , and   many others. And in  so doing   I hope we can  help the    Artsist  to  get the  recognition  they  deserve  in the    wider  world

Cheers

Peter

OK:   here  goes  ... let's see  if the  posting    method  still  works

           THE MOST  BEAUTIFUL  BOTTLE  IN THE  WORLD  :   by    FU  GUOSHUN  ( 2008/9)


 
« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 02:03:30 pm by Bottle Guy » Report Spam   Logged

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richy88
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« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2011, 12:08:49 am »

Hey Peter, call it a passion.

Some people will look at us collectors as some weird, crazy guys who are willing to part our hard earned money for a small bottle like that! But alas, they do not know what they missed out!

Anyway, it is a very nice bottle. It is signed? Can you post also the other side as well?

Thanks for sharing!
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Richard from sunny Singapore
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« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2011, 12:47:10 am »

Hi Richard

Yes:   we  bottle-lovers  are a  crazy   group  .  But that's the  way we   are. 

I never  forget the  time  I  first  met  Hu  Xiaoran   in Hengshui.  I  had  bought a  couple  of  his bottles  via   Su Fengyi  and  Xioran (  Xiao  Quan)   knew  I  admired  his  work.   But  when we  had  lunch  together  and  I  told  him  I  often  take   his  bottles  off the  shelf    and gaze  at them  for  hours   at a time   his  eyes  nearly  popped  out  of his  head.  I  don't think  he  ever  realized that   some  collectors    really  do  LOVE    the  bottles  that    they collect.

I have  some  bottles  by  various   super  Grand  Masters, which  I picked  up  by accident   along the  way .   But they are    ugly  pieces  and I never   take them  out  to   treasure and  admire  them .  I   even  have a    sole  Wang Xisan  from   Bloch 1  auction  that  I bought  for  its  immense  historic    importance  ( which  is  actually  very  well painted) Bloch  664  . But  I would  happily   ditch them all*   for  just one  masterpiece  of  pure  beauty

*well ....  of  course  not the  Wang Xisan  !

 Here's the  other  side   oif  Fu Guoshun's  Masterpiece

The   quality  ( detail) of  both pics  is  not  good  because  I took  them  from a  scan of the  Yantai  exhibition     " 12   Grand Masters   Special  Book"    then   cropped and  re-sized .  So the  image is  3rd  hand  and  fuzzy

I   decided  that  the  A side     should  be   what  I  posted  before  becuuse  I   just  love  moons  in  IPBs.

But   others  may  say   that's  the  B side

In due  course  I will   take a  real   3 MB  pic  and send  to  you. The  colors and  detail  are  stupendous

Do you  ever  come to  HK?  If  so  PLEASE   do  come to my home

AND IF  THERE  ARE  ANY OTHER    COLLECTORS -FOR- PURE- LOVE   OUT THERE     READING THIS   STRING  : PLEASE
DO  EMAIL  AND  VISIT  ME IF  YOU   ARE  PASSING THROUGH  HONG KONG   <peterbentleyhk@hotmail.com

Cheers

Peter


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« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2011, 01:11:14 am »

Yes I agree that we are a crazy bunch in most people's eyes.. but I have many counter-arguments for other people in this crazy hobby, but I wont go there... hehe... I am only just now starting to get into modern ISPB's recently (after having bought about 150-200 allover the world in different venues and forums.  I remember saying in another thread that for artistic merit, detail and beauty NOTHING beats the modern ones..BUT i am and will remain a sucker for old things (I said THINGS lol), and we can never say never, but I think that I will not flip to the other side ... completely anyway ;-) 

Undoubtedly some of the bottles I have are copies of copies and whatever argument or valid reasoning anyone may throw at me BUT what matter most to me, and in the end, the only thing that matters, I did not buy for the name or whatever, but for the impact it had on me and yes, if i think it is old, it matters to me, even if i am DEAD wrong.   Peter referred to investment as a reason for buying, and yes it is valid, ofcourse, but intrinsically there is something wrong with buying because you think you will make money on it, or because of what someone else already paid for it before you.  THAT SURE is not love of affection, it is investment thinking and strategy.  Now I get off my soap box and zip it Lips sealed
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Pat
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« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2011, 02:17:18 am »

My girlfriend will verify that I am as crazy as the next collector. Thank goodness she does not share my interest in these bottles, for we would be broke in no time.

Remembering that I am a complete novice with a very small but growing collection.

I already have a a few bottles that were purchased when first started collecting that I would almost rather give away today as have them stand next to the older favored bottles.

The enjoyment of feeling and thinking back on the history, artist, and actual use of snuff by previous owners is..., well.., pure enjoyment..

These older bottles are not purchased with concern to value. I just love them.

This bottle of yours Peter is truly beautiful... Way out of my league and it sure is nice to see it shared here ! I too favor the side with the painting that includes the moon over the reverse side.

It sure is wonderful that friendships are being made here ! 
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« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2011, 03:13:14 am »

Hello  All IPB   - True  LOVERS

Yes , I  only  buy for  love , pure  LOVE. 

( And  yes, I admit  it,  I  do    secretly   look  down on those   who  buy for  pure  investment , sorry to  say  )

When  I  first  started  collecting  I  had no  idea  who  painted   what  bottle .  I just  bought  what  I thought  were  THE   most  beautiful  bottles   on display   at  a couple  of  specialist  shops  in BJ  and  SH , without  ever  bothering  to  ask who painted  them.  It  was  only later that  I found  out most of my  embrionic  /  baby-steps   collection  ( about  a  dozen at that  time)   were  by the  same  artist :  Song Yiming  ( Da  Cheng) . That   was  several  years  ago  , and since  then    SYM's   bottles  have almost  vanished because  he  has  become much more   famous.  So  I guess I was lucky   to have  bought  up  several of  his  bottles   when   he was   :  a)  in his  prime  painting skills   ; and b) not  yet   widely  recognized.  It's   been the   same  case   with  several other  up-coming  artists  :  I saw their   bottles , loved them and  bought them   without  ever    checking   out  who painted  the  bottles.  Later  their  bottles  also  vanished  as they became   more  famous  and     built  up a   steady  clientel  of  buyers.  At the  Yantai    exhibtion  in 2009  I looked  at   XXX's  stand  and  I could see  at a glance that what he  had on display were    just a  few  of  his lowest  standard  bottles  painted  over the  past  2  years  but  still unsold, meanwhile  his best  works  had been  sold   directly  to   collectors  like me .   In fact  I would  say that was the  case   for  over  half the  young / middle-aged  artists' stands  at  Yantai  2009.

Fu Guoshun  is  something   different  however, if  you   will bear  with me  ..

Master  Fu  is   a   III   generation   student  of  Wang Xisan, and  he  started  painting  so long ago that  he   even  gets   a big  mention  in J. H. Leungs'  " A New  Look..."   But then   suddenly,   a few  years   ago  he developed  a  completely new   style  , or rather   styles.    Totally  innovative  and  -  at least  in my opinion -   far better than  anything  he  ever  painted   20 +  years   ago.  This  new  style     must be recent  because   you  cannot  see  any exmples  in CIPMA  (   Chinese  Inside Painting  of the  Modern  Age) . The  first   examples   appear  in Wang  Ziyong's  2  books , but  since then   Master  Fu  has   developed  his  style   to even  greater  heights.

OK, I get  off  my soap box  :  every   collector   trumpets his  favorite   artists .

But my main point  is    :  BUY  FOR  LOVE .

Almost  every  time I  have  done that  I  have  found  myself  buying   really  top -class bottles  by  artists  who went on  to become  famous   a  few  years  later.    Almost  every bottle  I bought    5  -6  years  ago  is   now  worth     4 - 5  x     what  I paid originally.

The  classic case  was     Song Yiming  as  related  above.

 But   another  case  was   " Spiderman " :  I  bought a   beautiful   spider - theme  bottle  in a  SH  shop  about  6  years  ago   : signed  very  indistictly .   When  I started  to   go to  Hengshui     I  tried to  find  out   who  " Spiderman"  was .  But   whoever  I  showed the bottle  to,  even to  Wang Xisan and   Wang Guanyu,  no-one  could  identify   the artist.  Finally,  after   over  3   years  of   searching,  I found out  it  was   a  young   student  of   Da  Yong   called   Zhang Limin  , who was  so  humble that  he  actually  painted  his bottles   unsigned, and  then sold  them to  other  artists who  signed  them  with   their   own names  ,  or one-time  pen -names , before   selling  on into the   general  market.   Needless to say, I am  following the   career  of  Zhang Limin and  buying more  of  his   bottles  as he grows  in skill and   confidence  to  sign his  own name.  But I   still   rank   " Spider"  his  best - ever   work.

Cheers

Peter  @  Hong  Kong
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« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2011, 03:48:36 am »

How very true, Peter!

Yes, I also collect what I love (at first sight) before considering other factors such as artist, age or provenance.

I always advise new collectors to collect what they like, not what are worth as the sheer joy of viewing your prize collection is the ultimate enjoyment to a collector.

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« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2011, 12:55:43 am »

Have not posted in a while and just wanted to say how beautiful all the bottles are you posted. This one is very pretty.
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