A Yellow Overlay Glass Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period

JICSBS, Winter 1985, back cover.
Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 5, no. 954.

Hairline crack in lip (0.5 long) above one narrow side. Not obtrusive, but noticeable with the naked eye. Miniscule chip or polished bubble on outer footrim. Miniscule chip to the end of the right ear of the younger beast on the back of another on one main side. Chip to end of one part of the tail on the larger beast. Small chip to a formalized cloud on one narrow side and another chip beneath the cloud below. Miniscule, practically invisible surface chip to the flank of the upper animal above the brocade ball. Small chip in the ribbon of the brocade ball polished in. None of the damage obtrusive. General relative condition: good.
"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 bottle represents the busily carved, very well detailed group that it is likely to have been made for, and probably at, the court during the mid-Qianlong era, although the style may survive into the latter part of the reign. Buddhist lions are a common subject for the group, one appearing in the Guo’an sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30th October 2000, lot 501, where others are cited.

The unusually careless matching of the overlay colour to the foot rim is a possible indication of a late-Qianlong product, but this may also be an isolated problem. Glassblowers cannot have been able to consistently create precisely the right depth of overlay all around to allow the carver to cut the perfect form and a well-defined foot rim. Even in the early period, some degree of compromise must have been necessary on occasions (as illustrated by Sale 7, lot 137 and lot 1077 in the present sale, where there are minor problems on what appear to be early bottles). In this case, the similarity of the two colours helps to disguise the problem, but the overlay colour does bleed quite deeply into the body of the bottle. In one place, where the colour runs up to meet the lower part of the design, the carver felt it necessary to add some cloud-like motifs to make it look intentional. He then added a few more to areas where the colour did not bleed, to make the original cloud motif look less out of place. On a plane different from the overlay design, these must have been an afterthought and could not have featured in any original sketch of the type we propose as reasonably standard for these palace glass bottles (see Sale 6, lot 162).

This is one of the most spectacular of the entire group of Buddhist-lion bottles, due partly to its sumptuous colour combination. It displays a very busy carving style and a mass of surface detail, which together with the subtle colour combination creates an ideal textural quality. On some versions exhibiting a greater degree of contrast (such as the more common ruby-red on a snowstorm ground), the detailed surface can be distracting. This compressed spherical form accommodates the design better than the standard elongated pear shape.