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Lot Essay
This bottle is an example of an early imperial type, made at the Court utilizing the technique of European faceting. The shape is probably derived from European pocket-watches, which were imported into the Palace in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries.
The Qianlong Emperor was a devout follower of Lamaistic Buddhism, creating during his life-time a massive quantity of votive objects. Occasionally his devotion occurs on more personal works of art not intended for ritual or temple use and this is one of them. It is also one of the great masterpieces of Palace faceting from the Qianlong period, exhibiting both faultless precision and astonishing carving technique.
The two inscriptions are in Sanskrit. One is the mystical syllable, Om (or Aum), which represents, among other things, all that is, all that was, and all that ever shall be. The character on the reverse, Su’asti, represents the wish for an auspicious existence.
Only a few other bottles of this type are known, including a sapphire-blue example in the Mary and George Bloch Collection, illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 2, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 281, no. 793.
The Qianlong Emperor was a devout follower of Lamaistic Buddhism, creating during his life-time a massive quantity of votive objects. Occasionally his devotion occurs on more personal works of art not intended for ritual or temple use and this is one of them. It is also one of the great masterpieces of Palace faceting from the Qianlong period, exhibiting both faultless precision and astonishing carving technique.
The two inscriptions are in Sanskrit. One is the mystical syllable, Om (or Aum), which represents, among other things, all that is, all that was, and all that ever shall be. The character on the reverse, Su’asti, represents the wish for an auspicious existence.
Only a few other bottles of this type are known, including a sapphire-blue example in the Mary and George Bloch Collection, illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 2, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 281, no. 793.