Bottle ID: 00407

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PURPLE, VIVID DEEP TONE, ELONGATED OVOID FORM

Date: 1740-1820

Height: 54 mm

Glass, of elongated ovoid form, with rounded shoulders tapering to a wide mouth, and with a concave foot, of a vivid deep purple tone.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 258.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang.  A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 2002, Vol. 5, Part 1, pp. 260-261, no. 781.
Sotheby's, New York, April 1, 2005, lot 509, The Collection of Avrina Pugh.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss [HK] Ltd.
A Private Hong Kong Collection

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

It is often suggested that purple glass resembles amethyst, but this is unlikely to be the case here.  The bottle is too dark and too light in weight, being blown, to inspire such a conclusion.  Purple was one of the 'early' colors of the Palace Workshops and seemed to be popular throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Purple was also the "Imperial" color of the Ming dynasty and this may have accounted for its enduring popularity in the following centuries.

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