TABATIÈRE EN CRISTAL DE ROCHESignée Ma Shaoxuan, datée du deuxième mois de printemps de l'annéejia chen (1904)AN INSIDE PAINTED ROCK CRISTAL SNUFF BOTTLESigned Ma Shaoxuan, dated to the second month of spring of thejia chen year (1904)Finely painted on the interior with a scene from theRomance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi), depicting the Qiao sisters seated together on a latticed day bed, studying a book, the reverse with a poem in official script, signed Ma Shaoxuan, stopper.7.2cm (2 7/8in) high. (2).Provenance: PROPERTY FROM THE SMIT COLLECTION OF CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES Smit家族舊藏中國鼻煙壺甲辰年（1904年） 馬少宣款水晶内畫喬家姐妹鼻煙壺Provenance:Fred and Elsje Smit Collection來源:Fred 和 Elsje Smit 舊藏This snuff bottle depicts the well-known scene of the two Qiao sisters, famous for their legendary beauty, taken from the classic,Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). For a discussion of this subject, see G.G. Laverlochere, ,Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Source of Snuff Bottle Subjects,' inJournal of The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Spring, 1988, pp.12-13.Compare a rock crystal bottle painted with this scene, but dated 1896, in the collection of Mary and George Bloch illustrated by Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang,A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 4, Part 2,Inside Painted, Hong Kong, 1998, pp.373-5, no.578, where the authors note that Ma first painted this subject in 1894. See another example painted with this subject and other dated 1900, illustrated in Hugh Moss,Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, pp.136-7, no. 347.