Bottle ID: 00258

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PURPLE AMETHYST, ELONGATED MEIPING FORM

Date: 1736-1795

Height: 63 mm

Glass, of transparent vivid purple tone, of elongated meiping form, the shoulders tapering to an everted lip and with a neatly carved oval footrim.

Possibly Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 407.
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, May 2, 1991, lot 71, Collection of Arthur Gadsby.

Provenance:

Robert Hall

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

The Archives from the Household Department of the Imperial Workshops from the Qianlong period list seven colors of blue including two colors of purple - 'purplish-blue' and 'cobalt purple'.  The bottle shown here could reasonably be described as 'purplish-blue' since it seems to have a blue hue to it, although it is clearly purple.

From the Archives, listed in 1745 is an order for the Glass house to produce four large bluish purple flowerpots to present for the New Year Festival.  Directly after this (in the same year), is listed an order for the Glass house to produce sixty snuff bottles in various colors for the same festival.  It must be presumed that since the Glass house was making large glass flowerpots in this color, they would also produce snuff bottles at the same time.  A similar listing, again in 1745, is for four purple flowerpots to be made for presentation at the Duanyang Festival.  Following that listing is a similar instruction for sixty snuff bottles in various colors to be made for presentation, also for the Duanyang Festival.  It seems clear that with the number of glass bottles being produced,  the workshops by this time were highly adept at making fine bottles suitable for presentation at festivals in a variety of different colors.

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