AN INSCRIBED RUBY-RED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, XIANFENG PERIOD, XINGYOUHENGTANG MARK

Hugh M. Moss Ltd., 1983.
Collection of Eric Young.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th October 1993, lot 1011. 

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 124. 
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997. 

Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Summer 1983, back cover.
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. 756.

There is a burst air bubble on the lip and another towards the base on one side. Apart from some surface scratches, the overall condition is 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."

Zaiquan was a noted collector who added his hall name to a variety of works of art. Kleiner has suggested that this bottle dates from the eighteenth century, and was inscribed by the prince when it came into his possession during the early years of the Xianfeng era. Among his reasons for this belief are that the quality of the glass and workmanship are similar to the eighteenth-century imperial standard, and that glassmaking in the mid-nineteenth century was on record as being of poor quality. It is likely that he is right, and the similarity between this and Sale 9, lot 47, which is ascribed to 1723 – 1840, is compelling. A wider dating range is left for the bottle than for the inscription, while not entirely ruling out the possibility of a date of manufacture from the first half of the nineteenth century.

Certainly the quality of products of the palace glassworks declined during the Jiaqing and Daoguang period. In 1858 the Xianfeng emperor ordered the workshops to make only simple, undecorated wares, with marks clearly rendered (or in regular script: 嗣後玻璃活計要素，俱不拉花，款要真). This strongly suggests that standards of carving and decorating had fallen so low that the emperor, dismayed, restricted production to plain wares. The command regarding marks was apparently in response to careless calligraphy or difficulty with seal-script marks.