A Transparent Milky Glass Snuff Bottle Guyue Xuan Mark, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period

Edward T. Chow.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5th May 1994, lot 1202.

Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 5, no. 791.

A few barely visible nibbles from the inner and outer lip. Further tiny nibbles seen along the egdes of the narrow sides. Two tiny burst air bubbles, one on a main side filled with dust and another on the narrow side filled with darker debris. Some small surface scratches.
"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."

The shape here is the result of a process similar to Sale 6, lot 226, in which a blown glass bottle has flattened narrow sides. This one, however, is more appropriately classified as faceted because of the manner in which the flat sides have been transformed into the curvature of the neck. One also detects more evidence of the lapidary’s hand, since the narrow-side panels seem thinner-walled than the rest of the bottle, suggesting more has been ground off in the finishing process. There is also more evidence here of the use of the blow-iron, with a concentric band of subtly different white around the mouth, and the orientation of the elongated air bubbles occurring along the expected axis.

The most intriguing aspects of this example are the Guyue xuan mark (which we have discussed under Sale 2, lot 57, and which cannot have been added before 1767) and the shape, which is somewhat akin to the series of bottles bearing the studio mark Wanya xuan (see Sale 3, lot 100, where we suggest that it was probably related to the court and dated to the mid-eighteenth century at the latest). These tall compressed forms with emphatically faceted narrow-side panels seem to have been popular during the eighteenth century, and one may assume that it was a courtly shape, if not exclusively so. Certainly the mark here indicates an imperial product, and the glass is entirely in keeping with known Qianlong examples that had enamelling added at the palace workshops. The use of a spinning wheel to engrave this mark is similar to the method employed on the Wanya xuan bottles, although it was also common to the inscribing of any substance produced at the court which was too hard to be carved directly with cold steel.

Edward Chow (Qiu Yanzhi 仇焱之, 1910 – 1980), one of the most far-sighted dealers and collectors of the twentieth century, bought his snuff bottles over many years and retired to Switzerland long before anyone would have thought of adding a fake Guyue xuan mark to a glass bottle. In those days they were too busy removing them from enamelled glasswares, since even enamels with this mark were considered either second class or outright fakes. It is a measure of his prescience that Chow made his own decisions about what was desirable, heeded his own counsel on what was genuine, and knew the wide range of Chinese art as well as any of his contemporaries and far better than most.