A VERY RARE SMALL TRANSLUCENT BLUE GLASS RELIQUARY BOTTLE

TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A VERY RARE SMALL TRANSLUCENT BLUE GLASS RELIQUARY BOTTLE
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
The flattened globular body with a short cylindrical neck and a small lug handle at the shoulder, the mouth rim with U-shaped indentation, the very thin cobalt-blue body suffused with bubbles, swirls and inclusions
2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Previously sold at Christie's London, 7 June 1993, lot 98
Eskenazi, London

Literature

C.F. Shangraw and C. Brown, A Chorus of Colors: Chinese Glass from Three American Collections, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1995, no. 9

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Lot Essay

This small vessel would have had another tiny lug handle similarly attached through heating to the opposite shoulder. The exact use of small glass vessels of this type is unknown, but they may have been associated with Buddhist functions, perhaps as reliquaries.

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