Bottle ID: 00270

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BLUE COBALT, HEXAGONAL W/CONVEX PANELS

Date: 18th century

Height: 44 mm

 

Glass, transparent cobalt-blue, of small rounded hexagonal lobed form, the convex vertical panels tapering towards a straight neck, and the footrim carved as the outline of a six-petalled flower-head.
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 390.
Sotheby's, Los Angeles, October 3, 1984, lot 50, Collection of Alice B. McReynolds, Part I.
Sotheby's, New York, March 23, 2004, lot 65, Collection of Robert and Molly Hsieh.

 

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Alexander Brody
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Joseph Baruch Silver

 

Exhibited:
 

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

 

Published:
 

Lawrence, Clare.  The Alexander Brody Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1995, p. 64, no. 92
Brody, Alexander.  Old Wine into Old Bottles:  A Collector's Commonplace Book, 1993, pp. 130 and 161

 

 

This is an extraordinary glass bottle in every way.  While similar examples have been cited, one in yellow glass and one, of a possibly later date, in rutile hair crystal, there is no example that is comparable to this bottle in terms of sheer artistry.  Every perfect feature of this delightful bottle shouts Imperial manufacture from its vivid color to its elegant footrim.

The Archives relating to the Zaobanchu dating from the Yongzheng period, prepared for publishing by Peter Lam in 2000, are pertinent when considering a bottle of this caliber.  During the reign of Yongzheng, there were almost one thousand glass objects including snuff bottles listed in the Archives which were subsequently produced, many of those being monochrome glass.  The colors specified in the Archives include yellow, bright blue, purple and red.  The Yongzheng Emperor was known to have a prediliction for red and purple glass, although it was alleged that his favorite snuff bottle and the one that he used was a glass bottle in sapphire blue.  Does the Crane bottle contain a royal secret within its slender walls?

 

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