A RARE SMALL RED-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS DOUBLE-GOURD VASE

PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 18TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE SMALL RED-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS DOUBLE-GOURD VASE
PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 18TH CENTURY
The body is carved in relief through the ruby red overlay to the opaque white ground with five bats (wufu) flying amidst trailing clouds on the lower body and with shou symbols and further bats on the upper body, all beneath key fret and inverted lappets encircling the neck.
3 7/8 in. (9.9 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The Qianlong Emperor appears to have had a particular fascination with carved red-overlay glass works; the first entries in the Palace Archives relating to glass in the first year of the Qianlong reign cite an order for two red-overlay glass vases, one on an opaque white ground (see Luster of Autumn Water - Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, p. 74).

Glass double-gourd shaped bottles of this size and shape appear to be rare. A related red-overlay glass double-gourd-shaped bottle, but decorated with vines, in the Robert H. Clague Collection is illustrated by C. Brown and D. Rabiner in The Robert H. Clague Collection: Chinese Glass of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, Phoenix Art Museum, 1987, p. 54, no. 62.

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