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Lot Essay
The dragon, long, and the phoenix, fenghuang, were explicit emblems of the emperor and empress respectively since the Han dynasty. When the dragon and phoenix are combined in a single design, they evoke an image of imperial power and strength.
With its wide mouth and Imperial subject, this extraordinary bottle must have been made for the Court, and probably dates to the Kangxi period. The powerful and dynamic depiction of the long sinuous dragon is typical of the Kangxi period. Of the published overlay glass bottles in the two Imperial Collections, very few exhibit such fine, fluid carving and impeccable finish as that on the present bottle. A red overlay glass bottle carved with a design of the Three Abundances, but of similar shape and exhibiting somewhat comparable fine carving, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and is illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 37, no. 50.
With its wide mouth and Imperial subject, this extraordinary bottle must have been made for the Court, and probably dates to the Kangxi period. The powerful and dynamic depiction of the long sinuous dragon is typical of the Kangxi period. Of the published overlay glass bottles in the two Imperial Collections, very few exhibit such fine, fluid carving and impeccable finish as that on the present bottle. A red overlay glass bottle carved with a design of the Three Abundances, but of similar shape and exhibiting somewhat comparable fine carving, is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and is illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 37, no. 50.