Bottle ID: 00665

< Previous page

GREEN, BUBBLY MOSS SUFFUSED W/OPAQUE YELLOW SWIRLS

Date: 1750-1820

Height: mm

Glass, of elongated ovoid form, the shoulders tapering to an everted mouth with straightened lip, with a neatly carved footrim and carved on the sides with mock mask and ring handles, the bubbly moss green glass suffused with opaque yellow swirls, possibly in imitation of moss agate.

Possibly Imperial; possibly attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Kleiner, Robert.  Chinese Snuff Bottles - The White Wings Collection, 1997, p. 162, no. 108.
Hidden Treasures of the Dragon.  Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collections of Humphrey K. F. Hui, Margaret Polak and Christopher C. H. Sin.  Catalogue of an Exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 19 December 1991 to 27 January 1992, p. 145, no. 294.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio
The Collection of P. Harvey, Southern California

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

The Chinese glass makers enjoyed showing their virtuosity in producing a variety of types of glass, creating different effects to please their customers.  The swirling opaque yellow colors in this moss green bubble-suffused glass bottle may have been made to imitate a moss or dendritic agate bottle.  It does this very effectively even down to the pitting and roughness apparent in the natural stone.  Alternatively, the yellow swirling tones could be interpreted as smoky incense swirling around the inside of the bottle.  Whatever the interpretation, this is a dramatic example of glass production in the eighteenth century.  The form of this bottle, with its straightened lip and elaborately carved mock mask and ring handles, suggests a Palace attribution, although an experienced glass maker outside the Court could also have made it.

< Back to full list