Bottle ID: 00064

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CLEAR W/BLUE OVERLAY, COILING DRAGONS

Date: 1750-1850

Height: 69 mm

Glass, of flattened elongated form with the shoulders ascending to a wide mouth, the clear bubbly glass overlaid in pale blue, imitating aquamarine, with on front and reverse, coiling dragons confronting a shou medallion.

Similar Examples:

Hui, Humphrey K. F., Margaret Polak and Christopher C. H. Sin.  Hidden Treasures of the Dragon - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collections of Humphrey K. F. Hui, Margaret Polak, Christopher C. H. Sin, 1991, p. 64, no. 117.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Richard A. Bourne Co., Inc., Massachusetts, December 14, 1988, lot 253
Mrs. J. Gerald Mayer

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007 

 

 

 

 

There is a small group of overlay glass bottles where the overlay color is not taken down to the base color, but forms the background to the decoration.  This results in an agreeable surprise for the handler of this bottle - what seems at first glance to be a piece of monochrome glass is, in fact, a two color glass bottle.  Only by removing the stopper and noticing the thin, even layer of blue glass laid over the clear base color, do we notice the carver's accomplishment.  In this case, the carver's technical virtuosity gives an added dimension to the visual depth of the bottle, leaving us in no doubt that he intended to portray an impression of aquamarine, rather than glass as the material for this bottle.

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