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Lot Essay
For a discussion on realgar glass, see lot 65.
The present bottle is superbly made and of unusual form. The shape is based on a Han-dynasty pottery form taken from the silkworm cocoon, where the ovoid cocoon is set sideways and the neck and foot attached to form a vase. The form was known to the Palace workshops through the Imperial collection and Han examples are known inscribed with poems by the Qianlong Emperor. The striking abstract markings and colors are unusual for this series of realgar-glass bottles, which are usually more scarlet and less olive and brown.
For a realgar glass-bottle still in the Imperial Collection, see Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 82, no. 58. For a series of five realgar-glass bottles of various types in The Victoria and Albert Museum, from bequests made from 1901 and 1936, see H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, London, 1992, pl. 63.
The present bottle is superbly made and of unusual form. The shape is based on a Han-dynasty pottery form taken from the silkworm cocoon, where the ovoid cocoon is set sideways and the neck and foot attached to form a vase. The form was known to the Palace workshops through the Imperial collection and Han examples are known inscribed with poems by the Qianlong Emperor. The striking abstract markings and colors are unusual for this series of realgar-glass bottles, which are usually more scarlet and less olive and brown.
For a realgar glass-bottle still in the Imperial Collection, see Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 82, no. 58. For a series of five realgar-glass bottles of various types in The Victoria and Albert Museum, from bequests made from 1901 and 1936, see H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, London, 1992, pl. 63.