Lot Essay
It is extremely rare to find lobed glass vases, and the present lot appears to be the only one of its kind to be published. Most other vases have facetted sides, such as the example carved from a similar cobalt-blue glass, sold in our New York Rooms, The Jingguantang Collection, 20 March 1997, lot 34. Nevertheless, the present vase with its lobed sides, is related to another Qianlong-marked blue glass bottle of larger size, with lobing around the lower body only and with a plain cylindrical neck, from the Collection of Walter and Phyllis Shorenstein, included in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco exhibition, A Chorus of Colors, Chinese Glass from Three American Collections, 1995, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 46. From the same collection is an earlier glass vase, dated to the Kangxi period, which may have been the inspiration for the Qianlong vases, as it has a compressed globular lower body with less distinct lobes continuing up the slightly flaring neck, illustrated ibid., no. 19. It is noted that the Kangxi vase was probably based on a European shape, in particular reflecting the Chinese interest in glass bottle vases of Dutch origin.