A RUBY-RED 'SNOWSTORM' GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Bob C. Stevens.
Sotheby's New York, 20th March 1982, 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. 740.

There are numerous air bubbles, many burst open and some stained. The overall condition is otherwise very 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 extremely rare bottle demonstrates a reversal of the technique used to produce lot 209 in the present auction. Snowstorm glass, customarily employed as the ground, has been used here as the upper layer, casing a thick inner layer of standard ruby-red glass and yielding a spectacular result of white inclusions contained in the colourless upper layer. 

With the aid of a microscope, it becomes apparent that the snowstorm effect is caused partly by a mass of air bubbles of various shapes and sizes, some dragged out of their usual spherical or oval shape by the effects of the fragments on their surface tension and by fragments of white glass. Where they come to the surface and have been polished through by the lapidary, they resemble a standard white glass surface. This would be the most practical method of producing such an effect; it is easy to grind up existing, translucent white glass in order to get a series of tiny, sand-sized grains. These are then scattered evenly into colourless glass and picked up by the glassblower on top of the gather of red.