A Rare Opaque Pink-Blush Glass Fish Bottle

1770-1820

Details

A Rare Opaque Pink-Blush Glass Fish Bottle
1770-1820
Naturalistically carved in the shape of a fish with its tail tucked under to provide a flat base and the open lips forming the mouth of the bottle, lightly incised with scales and low-relief fins, the glass of a pale pink with shading in a deeper rose, stopper
36in. (7.8cm.) high

Lot Essay

Presumably this bottle is closely related to the more commonly found pink-blush bottle of tall baluster shape carved with layered lotus leaves. The fish would indeed be in keeping with the Buddhist theme of the lotus and the technical skills involved would suggest the same period, if not workshop. For an example of the lotus bottle, see Clare Lawrence, Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom, The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, London, 1996, pp. 242-243, no. 115.

See, also, Xin Gengqi and Zheng Rong (chief compilers), Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 94, nos. 80-81 for two double-coloured glass fish bottles, one in blue overlay on white, the other red overlay on white

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