Bottle ID: 00057

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RED RUBY, CARVED W/RAISED CIRCULAR PANELS

Date: 1730-1750

Height: 46 mm

Glass, of flattened circular shape, of ruby-red tone, carved on the front and reverse with raised circular panels, and with a flat oval foot, the neck incised with a band of acanthus leaves.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Sotheby's, London, April 24, 1989, lot 267, Collection of Edgardo Potoukian, Esq.
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. 275-276, no. 789.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Richard A. Bourne Co. Ltd., Massachusetts, December 14, 1988, lot 238
Mrs. J. Gerald Mayer

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

Monochrome glass became the staple of Palace production from the Kangxi period onwards in both snuff bottles and other objects.  While the Palace Museum has few glass objects from the Kangxi period and no archival material surviving from the Zaobanchu (the Imperial Household Department), there is a wealth of information recently uncovered for the Yongzheng period onwards.  The 'Archives of Objects Made in the Imperial Workshops' now kept at the First Historical Archives of China at the Palace Museum lists, among a host of information, the colors of glass made from the first year of Yongzheng (1723).  Only one overlay color is listed, that of blue overlay and hence, we must assume that the majority of Yongzheng glass snuff bottles and other objects were of monochrome glass.  In total there were over thirty colors, both transparent and opaque during this period, including various reds.  This classic ruby-red glass bottle is a likely contender for early eighteenth century glass, being of a small size, as were most of the early Imperial bottles in any material and of a clear brilliant red color.

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