IMPERIAL, PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, 1750-1810

This bottle belongs to a series of superb-quality imperial crystal snuff bottles from the height of snuff bottle production during the Qianlong period. Characteristically of compressed forms and often with flared necks, they are carved from the finest crystal relatively free of flaws. They are typically carved in low relief with a range of auspicious subjects that fill all the available space of both main sides. For an example carved with ancient coins see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 2, Part 2, quartz, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 419-21, p. 335. Though rare, they also appear in glass imitating crystal.