Today I bought 2 inner painting snuff bottles from this cny fair.
They are small bottles with paintings inside them, where the painter has to insert a small calligraphy-like brush through the small neck and make those fine drawings.
This painter had a whole series of certficates and newspaper cuttings of himself pasted all over his store, and he showed me a photo he took with Goh Chok Tong and a listing of himself in some 'Who's who in Chinese Art' book. He was very eager to show how famous he is with all these documents.
Anyway, I picked a snuff bottle with cat pictures, and he said he could write my name in the bottle on the spot. Well, I certainly was thrilled, so I wrote my Chinese name for him. Then, being kiasu, I asked him (half thinking he might charge me extra) to write my English name too, which he gladly obliged.
Seeing how nice and obliging he was, I picked another bottle with crane pictures, and asked him to write my Dad's name. He wrote using this super thin calligraphy brush with the help of a magnifying class.
Then, the cheapo part of me kicked in and I asked him if there's a discount since I'm buying two. He seemed very scandalized (but he didn't lose his cool) and he said how can a master artist like him give a discount (yes, he actually called himself da4 shi1).
Okay, guess I should have just kept quiet and pay up for the pieces of art with gratitude and awe. (But anyway, the bottles were not too expensive lah, he had a huge range and I got the lower end ones)
Then, as I was leaving, I asked him if he resides in Singapore. He said he lives in America, and being the document lover that he was, he immediately pulled out his green card to show me as proof :) What a funny chap, but he really has great skill and patience to do such drawings.
PS. There's this strange anonymous person that's tagging a lot on my CBOX. I wonder who s/he is...
They are small bottles with paintings inside them, where the painter has to insert a small calligraphy-like brush through the small neck and make those fine drawings.
This painter had a whole series of certficates and newspaper cuttings of himself pasted all over his store, and he showed me a photo he took with Goh Chok Tong and a listing of himself in some 'Who's who in Chinese Art' book. He was very eager to show how famous he is with all these documents.
Anyway, I picked a snuff bottle with cat pictures, and he said he could write my name in the bottle on the spot. Well, I certainly was thrilled, so I wrote my Chinese name for him. Then, being kiasu, I asked him (half thinking he might charge me extra) to write my English name too, which he gladly obliged.
Seeing how nice and obliging he was, I picked another bottle with crane pictures, and asked him to write my Dad's name. He wrote using this super thin calligraphy brush with the help of a magnifying class.
Then, the cheapo part of me kicked in and I asked him if there's a discount since I'm buying two. He seemed very scandalized (but he didn't lose his cool) and he said how can a master artist like him give a discount (yes, he actually called himself da4 shi1).
Okay, guess I should have just kept quiet and pay up for the pieces of art with gratitude and awe. (But anyway, the bottles were not too expensive lah, he had a huge range and I got the lower end ones)
Then, as I was leaving, I asked him if he resides in Singapore. He said he lives in America, and being the document lover that he was, he immediately pulled out his green card to show me as proof :) What a funny chap, but he really has great skill and patience to do such drawings.
PS. There's this strange anonymous person that's tagging a lot on my CBOX. I wonder who s/he is...
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