Bottle ID: 00324

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JET BLACK, IMITATION, OPAQUE

Date: 1780-1850

Height: 33 mm

Glass, of small rounded form with shoulders tapering to a slightly everted neck and with a concave foot, of opaque black tone.

Possibly Imperial, attributed to Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Xia Gengqi, Zhang Rong.  Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 73, no. 41.
Hall, Robert.  Chinese Snuff Bottles II, 1989, p. 95, no. 75.

Provenance:

Robert Kleiner

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

While the Palace Archives does not list black as one of the colors of glass in the Qianlong period, a monochrome glass snuff bottle in black is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.  This gives no real indication of a dating period for this bottle although it does allow for a tentative Imperial attribution.  The second example cited above is molded and carved in the shape of a finger citron, but like this miniature bottle, appears to resemble jet, a material favored by the literati of the day.  The Crane bottle has the same smooth polish and opacity that characterizes jet bottles, resulting in a highly satisfying imitation of a much softer material.

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