A four-colour overlay pink glass 'silkworms' snuff bottle, Yangzhou school, Qing dynasty, 19th century | 清十九世紀 揚州作粉紅地套四色料錦衣玉食圖鼻煙壺

This is a very rare multiple overlay from the Yangzhou school of the popular silkworm design. This subject is usually found in single overlay or, occasionally in double overlay.

In the present lot, we find a rare combination of four distinct layers: cinnabar red, ruby red, emerald-green, and yellow, on a pink ground. The two different reds are employed separately as a fourth, upper layer. This is a very rare occurrence on any glass overlay bottles.

Another 'silkworms' bottle with a wide range of colours, although not as many layers, is in the Franz collection, illustrated in Hedda Franz, Franz Art: Glass, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 2011, cat. no. 1385. Two double-overlay examples from the Mary and George Bloch Collection and the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter collection, were sold respectively in these rooms, 26th November 2013, lot 171; and 4th June 2021, lot 1005 (https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/snuffbottles-from-the-tuyet-nguyet-and-stephen-markbreiter-collection-part-i/an-emerald-green-and-yellow-double-overlay-pink).

此類蠶桑錦衣玉食圖鼻煙壺常見套單色或雙色料的作品。但如本品套上四色料，並於最外層套上朱紅及寶石紅兩種不同紅色色調的作品，尤其珍罕。

見兩件套雙色料例，其一原為瑪麗及佐治伯樂收藏，後售於香港蘇富比2013年11月26日，編號171；另一為雪月收藏，較早前售於香港蘇富比，雪月藏鼻煙壺第一部份，2021年6月4日，編號1005 (https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/snuffbottles-from-the-tuyet-nguyet-and-stephen-markbreiter-collection-part-i/an-emerald-green-and-yellow-double-overlay-pink)。