Bottle ID: 772

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WHITE, RECTANGULAR, INCISED FISHERMAN, INSCRIPTION

Date: 1880-1920

Height: 60 mm

Glass, of rectangular form, with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck and with a neatly carved oval foot, of opaque milk-white tone, incised on one main side with a fisherman seated on a riverbank beside a rock, under overhanging bamboo, a four-character inscription to one side; the reverse with a fourteen-character inscription followed by two red seals; the two narrow sides each with a four-character inscription; the base with a two-character collector's mark.

Similar Examples:

None known

Provenance:

A private Los Angeles, CA. Collection

 

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, glass bottles were produced in order, not to be enameled, but to be incised by a group of craftsmen that included Zhou Honglai, who specialized in micro-engraving. Often the inscriptions on the bottles were taken from wellknown poetic works from as early as the Tang Dynasty which was known as the 'golden age' of classical Chinese poetry. Collectors who commissioned these bottles enjoyed the scholarly nature of the subject matter whether they, themselves, were literati or wealthy merchants. The fisherman is one of the 'Four Noble Professions', the other three being the farmer, the wood-cutter and the scholar.

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