AN AMBER-BROWN GLASS 'SHOU CHARACTER' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, YONGZHENG / QIANLONG PERIOD

Sotheby's New York, 22nd November 1988, lot 230.

Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles IV, London, 1991, exhibited at Offices of Maître Jutheau, Paris and Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston, cat. no. 98.
Robert Kleiner, Boda Yang, and Clarence F. Shangraw, Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 97.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-5.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 5, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 821.

The exterior mouthrim has a tiny nibble. There are also a few minute nicks to the raised shou characters, but the overall condition is otherwise very good. The actual colour is slightly richer than the catalogue illustration.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Grounds for attributing this bottle to the imperial glassworks are provided by the crizzling, a standard feature on early brown glass from the court, and found on the Qianlong-marked example of Sale 9, lot 66, as well as lot 132 in this sale. With the symbolism of the design—wishes for the long life for the recipient—this seems an ideal candidate for a palace-workshop product made for the emperor’s birthday.

This provides another example in which a concave lip appears with a polish different from the rest of the bottle, suggesting that it might originally have been flat, as was usually the case with early glass bottles. Although the form and appearance suggest it was carved from a solid block, the weight does not support this supposition, and evidence that it was blown is supplied by the lapidary-cut inner neck where it joins the natural bubble from the blow-iron at the inner shoulders.

This distinctive early stopper is of a standard, if rare, type discussed in Sale 1, lot 73.