This very unusual shape is seen on another plain glass bottle illustrated by Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, p. 62, no. 80. Both the present bottle and the Bloch example have stoppers of the same design but in different material, suggesting that they are both original to their respective bottles. It is likely that this very rare shape was designed to fit into an outer container, perhaps a firm brocade pouch which would have brought the girth to the level of the upper, umbrella-like mantle and corresponded to the lace-like fabric of the shoulder decoration. The main decoration on the lower half of the snuff bottle would then be hidden from casual view, revealed only to those invited to take snuff with the owner. For a bottle held in a separate container, see Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, p. 77, no. 1.

This bottle is one of the earlier examples of the Guyue Xuan group, dating from the last decades of the Qianlong period and bearing a genuine Qianlong mark. This formally correct, precisely drawn, blue enamel mark was a standard on Palace enamels throughout the Qianlong period, but an exception for the Guyue Xuan group. Only a few of the earlier wares carry Qianlong marks rather than the iron-red Guyue Xuan mark which was introduced as an alternative from the late 1760s.