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Bottle ID: 00520
CLEAR W/OVERLAY OF COBALT BLUE BATS
Date: 1750-1795
Height: 66 mm
Glass, of flattened pear shape, overlaid with cobalt-blue on a clear transparent ground and carved continuously with bats flying amidst scrolling clouds, with a neatly carved footrim, the base incised 'shangwan', 'appreciated plaything'.
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.
Similar Examples:
Crane Collection no. 455
Hall, Robert. Chinese Snuff Bottles IV, 1991, p. 110, no. 109.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 2002, Vol. 5, Part 2, pp. 518-519, no. 920.
Provenance:
The Asian Art Studio
Isabel Torbert
Mrs. Willis M. Torbert Collection
Exhibited:
Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
The majority of blue overlay on clear glass bottles have the subject matter of dragons, in designs both stylized and more fluid. They are generally of a flattened rounded shape and are usually dated to the eighteenth century on the basis of their color and the interior crizzling, which seems to be a feature of this color combination. In many ways then this elegant bottle is unique; its shape is of an atypical form for this group, though not for glass bottles in general, and the subject matter is seldom found in the combination of blue over transparent glass. This may account for the addition of the incised base mark, 'shangwan', 'appreciated plaything'. There is a distinct hierarchy of marks in the Imperial Palace, with the more general marks such as 'nianzhi' being of less importance than 'yuzhi' marks, which in their turn are of lesser consequence than more personalized marks such as this one. This mark, however, has no specific designation to an Emperor or to his family and as such, may have belonged to a palace official rather than to a member of the Imperial family. One can discuss forever how Imperial is 'Imperial' but in doing so, one may lose the sense of play and appreciation that this bottle embodies.