IMPERIAL GLASSWORKS, BEIJING, 1730-1820

Of the various colors of gold-splashed glass which so fascinated the Court during the 18th century, green is the rarest. Part of the massive output of imperial glass bottles made for distribution as gifts, this popular type was blown, with fragments of aventurine glass rolled into the surface, as seen here.

An Imperial, gold-splashed green glass bottle from the Blanche B. Exstein Collection was sold in these rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 2. For another example of a gold-splashed green glass bottle still in the Imperial Collection, see Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 89, no. 72.