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Bottle ID: 00146
PINK, OCTAGONAL, CARVED W/CARP & LOTUS LEAF
Date: 1730-1800
Height: 66 mm
Glass, of octagonal faceted form with rounded front and back panels, with a wide mouth, of vibrant fuchsia-pink tone, carved in low relief within a vignette bordered with a rope-twist, on one side, a fan-tailed carp swimming amidst aquatic weeds; the other side carved with a lotus leaf, bud and flower; the outer edges of the bottle also with a rope-twist design; the neck with a similar edge above a tasseled border, six of the faceted paneled sides carved with Buddhist symbols - the wheel, the canopy, the endless knot, the conch, the umbrella and the vase.
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.
Similar Examples:
Crane Collection no. 326.
Sotheby's, Honolulu, November 7, 1981, lot 49, Collection of Bob C. Stevens, Part I.
Friedman, Pamela R. Lessing. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Pamela R. Lessing Friedman Collection, 1990, p. 34, no. 13.
Provenance:
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Joseph Baruch Silver
Exhibited:
Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
This bottle is part of a small but select group of bottles likely to have been produced in the Imperial workshops. This is indicated by features such as its innovative shape, the rope-twist borders and the tasseled neck border. The known examples are almost always in this clear pale pink color; a color which was recorded as part of the 'red' group of colors employed in the workshops from the Qianlong period onwards. Amongst the known bottles, there appears to have been more a variation in size rather than any other characteristic. This suggests that a small number of different sized molds for this group were available to produce bottles originally intended to be presented in sets, in a similar way to a number of the porcelain and jade bottles made in the Palace Workshops. The differences that make each bottle unique are a result of the lapidary process after the bottle is mold blown, allowing for diversity in carving and detail on each panel. While appealing to the idea of novelty that was favored by the eighteenth century Court with its faceted shape, this bottle also cleverly portrays the Eight Treasures of Buddhism, six of the motifs carved on the faceted side panels with the remaining two as the primary depictions on the front and reverse fascias, although the motif of fish is generally shown as a pair.
The combination of a secular Western design and sacred Chinese motif is highly sophisticated and indicates a glass industry that had quickly evolved beyond its early period of development. Writers elsewhere have commented upon the two main designs of the lotus and the fan-tailed carp representing, not only the predominant ideals of Buddhism, but also symbolizing the Yin and Yang elements ever present in Chinese art. While the majority of examples are in this pale pink color, derived from the use of colloidal gold, the Crane Collection also has a green overlay example with faceted sides depicting the Eight Treasures of Buddhism with an elephant carved on the front and a lion cub with a brocade ball on the reverse. The Smith Collection in the Field Museum in Chicago houses an opaque yellow example reinforcing the attribution to the Palace Workshops.