Bottle ID: 719

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GLASS, LIME-GREEN, SQUARE

Date: 1850-1900

Height: 66 mm

Glass, of flattened squared form, with rounded shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, and at the base with a neatly carved, shallow oval footrim, of a transparent lime-green tone.

Similar Examples:

Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection. Volume 5, Glass, part 1. Hong Kong, Herald International Ltd., 2002, pp. 126-127, no. 696 and pp. 128-129, no. 697
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection. Volume 5, Glass, part 1. Hong Kong, Herald International Ltd., 2002, pp. 230-231, no. 763

Provenance:

The Collection of Marcia J. Howard
Bonhams New York, March 14, 2016, lot 6027

 

This example has been dated to the second half of the nineteenth century based on the color of the glass, with its irridescent sheen, and its slightly larger size. With the visible interior polish which is very slightly frosted it is conceivable that it was carved from a solid block of glass instead of being blown as was the case with the majority of glass snuff bottles. Carving a bottle from a solid block makes the glass heavier. Often examples are found in colors which might imitate, or have been inspired by, semi-precious stones such as aquamarine (the Bloch example no. 763 in blue) or beryl, as could be the case here. By the second half of the nineteenth century glass production was commercially based, outside the Palace, in areas such as Boshan and Beijing, however it is not an easy task to state where a bottle may have been made.

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