Bottle ID: 721

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OCHRE OVERLAY ON BLUE, DEER, CRANE

Date: 1750-1850

Height: 64 mm

 

Glass, of slender elongated flattened oval form with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, overlaid in opaque greenish-ochre on a clear cobalt-blue ground and carved continuously, with on one side a deer standing on a rock under pine trees, the reverse with a crane standing with one leg raised on a rock, under pine trees, and with a neatly carved oval footrim.

 

Similar Examples:

 

Crane Collection no. 294.
Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 47, Beijing, 2003, p. 42, no. 60.

Provenance:

Berton Critoph, England
Robert Hall, London, 2008
The Collection of Ruth and Carl Barron, no. 4820
Christie's New York, March 16, 2016, lot 515

 

Unlike the Crane Collection example, no. 294, cited above, which is classically formal, this example has a more naturalistic scene on it. It cleverly uses the soft tone of the overlay color to dramatic effect, being highlighted against a vivid cobalt blue ground. The subject matters of a crane and a deer are both symbolic of immortality and longevity with both often being depicted, though not in this case, with Shoulao, the deity also representing these two things. The more evolved design and detailed carving of the overlay suggests a late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century date, and a workshop in Beijing, but outside the Palace environs.

 

 

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