A CARVED GREEN GLASS ‘CHILONG’ SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, MID-18TH / MID-19TH CENTURY

of translucent, whitish-green glass, with a flat lip and a recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding rounded footrim made up of elements of the design, carved with a continuous design of two chilong, a sinuous extrusion from the upper body of one curling beneath the foot to form the footrim; the glass stopper with a glass finial

A private collection, Hong Kong.
Sotheby's New York, 28th May 1980, lot 23.
Collection of Gerd Lester, 1986.

Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no.  99.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-1995.

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. 834.

There is a very minute nibble to the outer mouthrim, but otherwise the overall condition is very good. The spoon is missing.
"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."

Our only clues to dating of the present bottle are the colour of the glass, the form, and the style of decoration. The first here is extremely rare, which means there is little else by which to judge it. The elongated oval form seems to have been popular during the mid-Qing period, if not exclusive to it, which leaves us with only the style of the chilong as a guide to narrowing down the dating range. This beast has a long, sinuous body, an unusually large, rather stylized head, and lacks back legs. This seems to be the manner in which young chilong were depicted, since when fully mature chilongare shown accompanied by what are presumed to be their young, the latter often lack hind legs and sometimes possess no legs at all, having only sinuous, scrolling extrusions that issue from a central snake-like body. The origins of this type of dragon can be found in Han dynasty jade carving, which certainly influenced the palace workshops of the Qianlong emperor, if not those of his predecessors. It seems likely that this is a mid-Qing product, perhaps from the later part of the Qianlong period or the early nineteenth century.

 

Perhaps the most interesting feature, however, is that although of a type one would expect to have been blown, this bottle seems to have been carved from a solid block. This provides a tentative link to other bottles from the Bloch collection, such as two sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 28^th November 2011, lots 55 and 92, the latter of which has another feature in common with this bottle: a footrim composed of the curling extremities of the dragons. The bottle is unexpectedly heavy in the hand, but the possibility of it having been carved is strengthened by the lack of concentric rings round the mouth and the presence of a few tiny air bubbles—all of which are perfectly spherical—around the neck. The hollowing is also characteristic of lapidary work, for we find traces of the initial annular drill-markings still evident, and the interior walls are slightly uneven and fan-shaped. The carver has also left an unusually deep foot—a further possible indication of palace style related to jade carving. The lower area of the hollowing is of a more rectangular shape than one would expect of a blown form, and is somewhat uneven. These features are not significant on bottles other than transparent ones, of course, since they would be invisible under all normal circumstances. The slight carelessness of the interior finishing, however, may also confirm our dating to a period when slightly lower standards were beginning to be acceptable, especially if they were not visually obtrusive, a feature we can begin to detect in some late Qianlong period bottles.