AN ENAMEL ON YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

of compressed rounded form sloping to a cylindrical neck, resting atop a neatly carved oval foot, masterfully enamelled on a translucent yellow ground, with a continuous garden scene, one face depicting a small bird perched on craggy rockwork, glancing at a fluttering butterfly, surrounded by a profusion of poppy flowers, the reverse painted with hyacinth, daisies and bamboo, all below a formal ruyi-head and prunus border at the neck, the base with a four-character Qianlong nianzhi mark in blue enamel

Collection of Russell Mullins.
Collection of Edward Choate O'Dell.
Collection of Janos Szekeres.
Christie's New York, 27th November 1991, lot 106.

John Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, Baltimore, 1982, no. 102.
Patrick K. M. Kwok, 'The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles', Arts of Asia, November-December 1993, p. 93, no. 10.

The bottle is in good condition. There is a swirl of yellow, not a crack, across one face. A small area of the mouth rim and neck has an opaque quality from the firingt that is of slightly rougher texture than the rest of the glass. Slight flecks of minute black ash are apparent on the yellow glass, which is an indication of 18th century production when the ash from the furnace was allowed to get into the glass mixture. The footrim very slightly polished. Slight flaking to the pink enamel on the neck border. Revised 11 September 2010
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The enamel workshop within the Palace was set up, along with other workshops, by the Kangxi emperor. Enamel was known as fa lang and could be decorated on bottles of gold, copper or glass. It was the Hua Fang (the painting workshop) of the Falang zuo (the enamel workshop) which was responsible for decorating the bottles which were then taken to be fired. Peter Lam has suggested that glass objects, including snuff bottles, were produced in the glass workshop of the Yuanming Yuan which was set up in the Yongzheng period, rather than in the original glass factory in the Chanchikou. Given the proximity of the glass and enamel workshops in the Yuanmingyuan, it is likely that all the finer work was done there.

Technically, the decoration of enamel on glass and enamel on metal, is different. The enamels used on glass are similar to famille-rose enamels on porcelain and are decorated by using the "heaping" method, popularly known as dui liaokuan. This method differentiates enamelled glass bottles made by the Court from those later examples made commercially where the enamel is thinner, with little depth and is colored within each area in a single monotone.

Along with the opaque yellow bottle in lot 118, the only other related example, which is both opaque and translucent, is illustrated in Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York and Tokyo, 1976, no. 955.