**A RARE PALE GREENISH-YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more
**A RARE PALE GREENISH-YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1736-1795

Details
**A RARE PALE GREENISH-YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1736-1795
Of compressed, tapering ovoid form with a recessed, convex foot, the semi-transparent glass of very pale greenish-yellow tone with pearl-like quality, ruby-red glass stopper with integral green glass finial in the form of a frog
2¼ in. (5.7 cm.) high
Provenance
Ko Collection (Tianjin, 1943)
Christie's, London, 8 November 1976, lot 53
Literature
Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, Vol. II, no. 335
Exhibited
Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003
Special notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

The striking color of this bottle is very rare and has a distinctive transparency and pearl-like luster. Another glass bottle of identical material and color published in the J & J Collection and illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, no. 334, confirms its Imperial origins as it bears the Imperial reign mark Qianlong yuzhi (Made by Imperial Command of the Qianlong Emperor). Both of these bottles are thinly blown and have identical foot rims, and must have been produced during the same period at the same glassworks. A third bottle, of different shape but of essentially the same type of glass, and likewise attributed to the Beijing Palace Workshops, is illustrated by R. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The White Wings Collection, p. 72, no. 41. Otherwise, this distinctive color is extremely rare in Chinese glass.
The amusing stopper is one of several known which were presumably made in the same workshop during the nineteenth century. These stoppers are characterized by the use of ruby-red and emerald-green glass, sometimes in combination, and depict either frogs or twisted stalks. In all cases, they are manipulated molten glass, not carvings.

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