Bottle ID: 00390

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YELLOW IMPERIAL, CARVED W/WAVY RIBBED LINES

Date: 1723-1795

Height: 67 mm

 

Glass, bright opaque yellow tone, of flattened ovoid form, the rounded shoulders tapering to an everted lip, continuously carved with concentric wavy ribbed lines running down to the scalloped footrim.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing. 

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection nos. 80 and 467.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang.  The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. II, p. 587, no. 351.
Moss, Hugh M.  Snuff Bottles of China, 1971, p. 105, no. 185.
Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics series. Works of Decorative Arts 1, Beijing, 2003, p. 223, no. 218

 

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Monimar Collection
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Sydney L. Moss Ltd.

 

Exhibited:
 

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
Annual Convention ICSBS Hong Kong, October 1996
Christie's, St. James's, London, June 1996

 

Published:
 

JICSBS, Autumn 2006, Front Cover
Lawrence, Clare.  Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 232-233, no. 110.175

 

 

This bottle and the red glass example in the Crane Collection (cited above) are clearly connected in their parallel designs, even down to the similar scalloped-form footrim.  The opaque yellow tone of this example is, in turn, connected by its specific color to the Palace Workshops of the eighteenth century.  It is difficult to see any further meaning in the design other than the highly contemporary-looking ribbed wave pattern, which illustrates the technical virtuosity of the glass-maker.  The ruby-red glass bottle (Crane Collection no. 467) also uses this design very effectively in the lower half of the bottle to show a somewhat stylized wave pattern, with the moon and the sun above, one on each side, leaving the viewer in no doubt that the ribbed pattern depicts water.  The same meaning cannot easily be extended to the yellow glass bottle.  Nevertheless, it remains today a highly appealing and innovative work of art of the highest quality.

 

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