**A RED OVERLAY 'SNOWSTORM' GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

POSSIBLY IMPERIAL, POSSIBLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1750-1790

Details

**A RED OVERLAY 'SNOWSTORM' GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
POSSIBLY IMPERIAL, POSSIBLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1750-1790
Of compressed pear form with flat lip and a recessed convex foot surrounded by a footrim, well carved through the ruby-red layer to the bubble-suffused 'snowstorm' ground with a continuous scene of egrets in a pond surrounded by tall lotus and water plants, one pair of birds standing in the rippling water on one main side while on the other side two more appear, one in flight above the other, aventurine stopper with ivory collar
2¾ in. (7 cm.) high

Provenance

Hugh Moss Ltd.

Exhibited

Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, 1992.

Lot Essay

This bottle represents an evolution of the style of carving that developed at the Palace Glassworks. It is influenced by other glass bottles with a similar range of subjects and styles from the Qianlong period (see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, nos. 875 and 879). However, on closer inspection, this bottle has a more schematic approach to the carved decoration, and the carving is crisper and less sculptural. This style of carving and composition suggests an artistic evolution rooted in earlier Qianlong examples.

An (yi) egret (lusi) together with green (qing) lotus (lian) constitute the rebus: "[May you be] incorruptible throughout [your career] (yilu qinglian)." The single egret with the lotus seeds also means "[May you win] the top places in the successive examinations (yilu lianke)."

The cattail (xiangpu) and lotus (lian) represent mutual love (xianglian), while the lotus seed-pod symbolizes fertility, because of its numerous seeds.

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