A RED-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

PROBABLY YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1780-1860

Details

A RED-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
PROBABLY YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1780-1860
The bottle is carved through the transparent red overlay to the opaque white ground with a continuous design of silkworms and moths.
2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper

Provenance

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 17 November 1973, lot 306.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 1975.
The J & J Collection, Part V; Christie's New York, 17 September 2008, lot 62.
Robert Hall, London, 2009.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 4898.

Literature

Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, Vol. 2, no. 397.

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.

Brought to you by

Margaret Gristina

mgristina@christies.com +1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay

This subject matter illustrates the life cycle of the silkworm, which was so important to the Chinese economy over the centuries. Occasionally, the worms are shown on their own, and at other times, are illustrated with moths or with the mulberry leaves upon which they feed. For other examples of this subject in glass, see the white overlay on pink glass snuff bottle in the Bloch Collection, illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Part 3, pp. 697-698, no. 1010, and a multiple-overlay glass bottle, ibid., pp. 694-696 no. 1009.

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