AN AMETHYST-PURPLE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Alice B. McReynolds.
Sotheby's New York, 16th April 1985, lot 41. 

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. 725.

The overall condition is very good, except for a minute nick to the upper right on one side.
"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."

Apart from its rare and subtle colouring, this is an unusual shape for the range of sandwiched glass bottles and is far more thoughtfully and elegantly formed. The sharply flared neck is also unusual for the group as a whole.

It seems likely that a bottle as individually and exquisitely crafted as this would come from an earlier stage rather than a later one in the evolution of a type, particularly bearing in mind the widely acknowledged decline in glassmaking standards at court during the mid-Qing period. Once a group was established and could be relatively easily reproduced in quantity with the use of standard moulds, one would expect the opportunities for the creation of technically and aesthetically more demanding bottle such as this to occur less often.

The thin reddish purple layer sandwiched has reacted in the same way as that of Sale 7, lot 111, and broken into a network of lines, here much more evenly dispersed. The process would have been the same, powdered glass being added to the surface of the inner layer and scorched in the furnace. Making bottles of this type must have been an exciting task since it was, in common with certain other pyrotechnic arts, something of an adventure aesthetically. Although the glassmaker could control the colours and their general disposition, the effects of fire and blow-iron on that choice could not be predicted with any certainty.