An Emerald-Green Overlay Lemon-Yellow Glass ‘ Squirrel and Grapes’ Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th / 19th Century

Zhirou Zhai Collection.
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong, 1993.

Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 5, no. 957.

Note. Original glass cabochon has been replaced by one of a brighter colour, stained quartz.
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This striking bottle displays several indications of an early nineteenth-century date. While the design is well composed and vital, control of the carving is inferior to that we might expect from the high point of the art in the eighteenth century. Although controlled reasonably well, the ground plane still exhibits signs of a less-than-perfect finish, and control of the overlay colour on the foot rim is poor. The yellow glass is also atypical for earlier production, being heavily flawed, with tiny dark specks; the specks, while barely visible and certainly not obtrusive in normal light, become very obvious under transmitted light. Owing to the mass of tiny air bubbles it contains, the yellow also exhibits an unusual and distinctive soufflé effect.

The colour combination does not appear to have been employed very often by glassmakers during the earlier phase of production, despite its striking appeal. While the yellow ground may indicate an imperial bottle, and the imperial glassworks remains a possible origin, the deeper into the nineteenth century one ventures, the less the degree of certainty regarding either the sanctity of imperial prerogatives or the location of courtly production. Apart from the indications of typically nineteenth-century production, the bottle is very well formed and displays a lively design, with particularly impressive control of the thin lines of the grape vine.