AN OCTAGONAL REALGAR GLASS VASE QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD | 清乾隆 仿雄黃料八棱長頸瓶 《乾隆年製》款

In China, realgar is known as xionghuang, but is more commonly referred to as wuguarang (dwarf melon flesh). Zhou Jixu, a late Qing period connoisseur, described it as the first such type to appear in the Palace Workshop with its colouring containing blotches of red and yellow arbitrarily pulled together. See Richard John Lynn, ‘Technical Aspects and Connoisseurship of Snuff Bottles: Late Traditional Chinese Sources’, Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Summer, 1995, p. 8. For further discussion of realgar glass and its possible imperial origins and dating, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 5, Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 138-146, where the authors suggest that it was the product of the court from the early 18th century onwards and possibly a courtly prerogative or secret for some decades