IMPERIAL, PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1720-1780

Details

**AN UNUSUAL CARVED RED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1720-1780
Of flattened form with rolled lip, concave, inward-sloping mouth and recessed convex foot surrounded by a footrim, the main sides carved with chi dragons with elaborate, foliate tails, all within rounded-rectangular panels, the narrow sides carved with mask-and-ring handles, turquoise stopper with gilt-metal collar
2 7/32 in. (5.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Joseph Baruch Silver.
Hugh Moss Ltd.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

Ruby glass was a staple at the Palace workshops. Moss, Graham and Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, p. 18, write that during the early years of the Imperial glassworks, from 1696 into the beginning of the Qianlong period, it might have been a closely guarded secret at the Imperial glassworks, slowly leaking out to other workshops over time.

The use of ruby-red glass in combination with the mask-and-ring handles and broad mouth with rolled lip indicate Palace workmanship. The unusual tree-like combination of the four-pronged tails of the dragons, resembling bifurcated or trifurcated tails, and position of the rear legs is an archaistic detail associated with the Qianlong Palace atelier.

See Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, no. 835, for a carved aquamarine-blue glass bottle with similar treatment of the chi dragons.

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