Bottle ID: 716

< Previous page

SNOWFLAKE, WITH BLUE OVERLAY PANELS

Date: 1736-1780

Height: 57 mm

 

Glass, of flattened rounded form with shoulders sloping to a cylidrical neck, overlaid with cobalt blue on a snowflake ground, and carved on each main side with a raised circular panel, the narrow sides carved with oval panels, the oval footrim in the overlay color.
Possibly imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing

 

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no.s 697 and 488
Lawrence, Clare. The Thewlis Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles. London, Clare Lawrence, 1990, p. 40, no. 60
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection. Volume 5, part 2, GLASS. Hong Kong: Herald International Ltd., 2002, p. 488, no. 903
 

 

Provenance:

Bonhams San Francisco, October 13, 2015, lot 3284

 

This seemingly minimal design of a circular panel was a feature of imperial form, more normally seen with a carved design within the overlay circle, such as is shown in The Thewlis Collection example. This design extends back to enamel on metal bottles of the Kangxi Period, as do the mask handles on these bottles. As a general rule the higher the mock mask handles appear on the narrow side, that is to say on the shoulders rather than at a mid-point on the sides, the earlier in the 18th century the bottles are. On this example the simplicity of design belies the control of the manufacturing process which was much more difficult for the glassmakers to achieve than is apparent. Having a circular "wall" on the main sides of the bottle also allows the bottle to have an integral "snuff dish" to place the snuff once it has been taken on its spoon out of the bottle.

 

 

 

 

< Back to full list