A SMOKY-BROWN AND AMBER-YELLOW SANDWICHED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Gerd Lester, 1986.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 138.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

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. 730.

Good condition.
"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."

This is an example of the mould-blown glass group in which the joint between the two-part mould is very clearly visible on the interior, and to some extent also on the polished exterior (see discussion under Sale 1, lot 63).

However tempting it may be to see this as an imitation of tortoiseshell, it probably represents no more than the glassmaker’s exuberance. Tortoiseshell does not seem to have figured extensively as a material for early snuff bottles. The vast majority in that material are forgeries made during the past forty years, although there is a tiny group of earlier, probably mid-Qing, examples. For this reason one would not expect to find tortoiseshell widely imitated in glass, although anything from the sandwiched group featuring brown splashes in either clear or brown glass is likely to resemble it.

Once colour is added as a thin, sandwiched layer (whether as powder or fragments of glass), it can be manipulated not only by blowing, which stretches the layer still thinner, but by twisting so that the colour is diagonally stretched, as is the case here. This was one of the most common methods of lending greater decorative excitement to colours and was used on a large number of bottles from the group.

Here is another of the more impressive and exciting sandwiched-glass bottles.