Bottle ID: 00333

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RED RUBY, ELONGATED OVOID FORM, CARVED W/LANDSCAPE

Date: 1740-1800

Height: 72 mm

Glass, vivid ruby-red tone, of flattened elongated ovoid form, the shoulders tapering to a wide mouth and with a neatly carved footrim, continuously carved with blossoming lotus flowers, pods and leaves growing from water, with dragonflies and butterflies flying amidst the plants, beside a craggy rock.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Hall, Robert.  Chinese Snuff Bottles IV, 1991, p. 106, no. 105.
Hui, Humphrey K. F. and Christopher C. H. Sin.  An Imperial Qing Tradition - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Humphrey K. F. Hui and Christopher C. H. Sin, 1994, p. 112, no. 136.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

Despite the predominance of carved monochrome glass bottles in the Crane Collection, there are very few examples in other private and museum collections which are carved with one continuous design.  The ruby-red color, being derived from a highly expensive colloidal gold, together with its elegant elongated form which tapers to a wide mouth, all combine to lend an Imperial attribution to this bottle.  While more naturalistic subject matter was unusual for the Palace Workshops, the lotus as a motif was popular within the Palace, whether of a more stylized form such as those seen on "Moghul" wares or the more natural depictions shown here.  It has often been quoted that the pure lotus rising from the muddy waters was seen as symbolic of the scholar-official attempting to rise above the excesses of the Court in the achievement of his enlightenment.

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