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Lot Essay
This superbly carved bottle can be confidently attributed to the master glass carver, Li Junting, on the basis of the seal, Weizhi (not Weishi as is cited in most catalogues), which he is known to have used. Believed to have worked at Yangzhou, Li was one of the most important and innovative of all Qing glass-carvers - also one of the few we can identify by name. The link between the seal, Weizhi, and Li Junting is discussed by H. Moss, V. Graham and K.B. Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, New York, 1993, vol. II, p. 651, no. 399.
The color combination seen on the present bottle is very unusual, with a pink ground replacing the more common opaque white ground found on most bottles attributed to Yangzhou. For another bottle attributed to Li Junting on a pink ground and also dated by inscription to 1821, but carved through a green overlay, see R. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, London, 1995, pp. 270-271, no. 179. See also, another bottle from his hand incorporating the unusual color combination of white against a turquoise-blue ground, illustrated, op. cit., pp. 256-258, no. 171.
The color combination seen on the present bottle is very unusual, with a pink ground replacing the more common opaque white ground found on most bottles attributed to Yangzhou. For another bottle attributed to Li Junting on a pink ground and also dated by inscription to 1821, but carved through a green overlay, see R. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, London, 1995, pp. 270-271, no. 179. See also, another bottle from his hand incorporating the unusual color combination of white against a turquoise-blue ground, illustrated, op. cit., pp. 256-258, no. 171.