1700-1850

Details

THREE 'REALGAR' GLASS SNUFF BOTTLES
1700-1850
The first, probably Imperial Glassworks, Beijing, 1720-1850, is of flattened, ovoid form. The semi-transparent grey-tinged glass is accented with splashes of brilliant orange and ochre. The second, 1700-1820, is of tapering, elongated ovoid form and the glass is of varying dark red and orange in mottled patterns. The third, 1760-1850, is of compressed bulbous form and is carved through the mottled orange-red overlay to the mustard-yellow ground with butterflies in flight.
1¾, 2½, 2 3/16 in. (4.5, 6.4, 5.6 cm.) high, coral, jadeite and agate stoppers (3)

Provenance

Grey tinged bottle: Sotheby's New York, 22 November 1988, lot 61.
Elongated ovoid bottle: Jade House, Hong Kong, 1984.
Carved bottle: Marion Mayer Collection; Richard A. Bourne Co., Hyannis, Massachusetts, 14 December 1988, lot 137.

Literature

Carved bottle: Bob, Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, p. 70, no. 210.

Special notice

Items which contain rubies or jadeite originating in Burma (Myanmar) may not be imported into the U.S. As a convenience to our bidders, we have marked these lots with Y. Please be advised that a purchaser¹s inability to import any such item into the U.S. or any other country shall not constitute grounds for non-payment or cancellation of the sale. With respect to items that contain any other types of gemstones originating in Burma (e.g., sapphires), such items may be imported into the U.S., provided that the gemstones have been mounted or incorporated into jewellery outside of Burma and provided that the setting is not of a temporary nature (e.g., a string).

Lot Essay

'Realgar' glass is assumed to have been developed at the Imperial glassworks during the Kangxi period (1662-1722), when production was under the directorship of Kilian Stumpf and his fellow Jesuits, who set up the glassworks for the Emperor in 1696. Moss, Graham, Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 1, Glass, Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 138-9, no. 703, refer to a set of ten' realgar' glass cups in Denmark that were purchased in Guangzhou and brought back to Europe aboard the Kronprins Christian in 1732 (for an illustration of the cups see Ethnographic Objects in The Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650-1800, Nationalmuseet, p. 218, nos. Ebc 71-82).

Plain 'realgar' glass snuff bottles were made in large numbers throughout the 18th century and a large proportion of them were apparently produced at the court to be distributed as gifts. By the mid-Qing period, there must have been many in circulation, and it began to occur to carvers to decorate them, since in most cases they were uncarved overlays, often with a surface layer of brighter color. For other examples of carved 'realgar' glass snuff bottles, see M. Hughes, The Blair Bequest. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum, Baltimore, 2002, no. 185 (carved with chrysanthemums and prunus); R. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 79, no. 109 (carved with pomegranate and melons) and the example from the J & J Collection sold in these rooms, 17 September 2008, lot 35 (carved with Buddhist lions).

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