Bottle ID: 00671

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WHITE W/YELLOW & GREEN OVERLAY, SQUIRRELS & GRAPES

Date: 1750-1795

Height: 60 mm

Glass, of small flattened ovoid form, with shoulders tapering to a slightly everted mouth, and with a splayed oval footrim, carved using a double overlay of translucent green on opaque yellow on a milkwhite ground, with a continuous scene of a pair of squirrels cavorting amongst fruiting vines with hanging bunches of grapes.

Attributed to Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 682
Crane Collection no. 128
Chang Lin-sheng.  Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, 1991, p. 223, no. 302.
Low, Denis S. K.  More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, 2002, p. 147, no. 136.

Provenance:

Robert Hall
Tomiso Serantani, Tokyo

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

The motif of squirrels with grapes appeared first during the Ming Dynasty on ceramics and other decorative arts.  It was a popular motif which continued throughout the Qing Dynasty.  Pairs of squirrels represent fertility since they reproduce with consummate ease, and are often depicted with grapes which represent wishes for many sons and grandsons for countless generations.

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