English
中文
Bottle ID: 00083
WHITE OPAQUE, JADE IMITATION, PEAR SHAPE
Date: 1750-1820
Height: 72 mm
Glass, of slender elongated pear shape, of even opaque milk-white tone in imitation of the purest white jade.
Attributed to Beijing.
.
Similar Examples:
Sotheby's, New York, April 1, 2005, lot 516, from the Collection of Avrina Pugh.
Provenance:
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Armand; Gray's Antique Market, London
Exhibited:
Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
The Chinese reverence for jade, especially of an even white color, is demonstrated by their fondness for copying the stone in other materials. As early as the Ming dynasty, craftsmen would not only imitate jade for its look but also to parallel its uses. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York houses a set of white glass girdle pendants which can be dated convincingly to the Ming period that well illustrates both of these intentions. This love for imitation continued as the glass making indust ry accelerated in the Qing dynasty. The Crane bottle is a superb imitation of white jade. It has been weighted correctly and polished to a soft sheen so that in the hand it feels like jade; to the eye, the even milk-white glass appears to have the luster of the highest quality white nephrite.