Lot Essay
While faceted forms of Near Eastern metalwork were copied in porcelain by the Chinese as early as the 15th century, the technique of faceting glass gained popularity at the Imperial Glassworks in the Kangxi period. It was promoted by Kilian Stumpf and became a standard imperial method of decorating glass, particularly duirng the first half of the Qing dynasty. The wide mouth of the yellow bottle is suggestive of an early date, probably from the Kangxi to the early Qianlong reign. The white bottle is an unusual form in the repertoire of the Imperial Glassworks. An Imperial yellow bottle of the same shape is illustrated by Hugh Moss in Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, p. 105, no. 186.