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Lot Essay
This bottle belongs to the well-known group of sandwiched pink glass bottles in the form of lotus flowers, probably made at the Court for distribution as gifts. They vary in form, from elongated ovoid as seen here, to shorter, spherical shapes, all finely carved with distinct details, suggesting the glass carvers were working from a general design idea, rather than a specific model. This is one of the most imposing of all the forms, with its elegant, elongated shape and the impressive use of the coloring of the layers of glass, leaving every petal in paler relief and the tips of the leaf around the base paler than the underside they overlap.
A related elongated oval bottle is illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 2, Glass, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 324-6, no. 818. For an example of rounded form see Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. II, New York, 1993, p. 597, no. 358, and the example in the Blanche B. Exstein Collection, sold in these rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 29
A related elongated oval bottle is illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 2, Glass, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 324-6, no. 818. For an example of rounded form see Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. II, New York, 1993, p. 597, no. 358, and the example in the Blanche B. Exstein Collection, sold in these rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 29