A BLUE OVERLAY ON WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1750-1800
Of cobalt-blue on an opalescent white ground, of flattened, rounded form, carved continuously with flowering plants including begonia, iris and peony with a blossoming prunus tree issuing from rockwork, a butterfly in flight to one side, the neck with a slightly everted blue overlay collar; stopper.
2 1/4in (5.8cm) high
Footnotes:
1750-1800 白地套藍料蝶戀花圖鼻煙壺一件
御製 或為北京宮廷作坊製

Provenance:
The Kobacker Collection, FL.
Robert Hall, October 28, 2011
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 388

Literature:
Robert Hall. Serendipity, Chinese Snuff Bottles XVI, 2011, no. 2

Exhibited:
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD., September 30–December 9, 2018

This delicately carved glass bottle exhibits a level of refinement beyond most of its contemporaries. Stylistically it is part of a rare group that evolved from the small group of charming, but somewhat crude, blue or rose-pink overlays on a milk-white ground that are of a flattened rounded shape and which bear a four character wheel-cut incised reign mark of the Qianlong period. This group is generally carved with a limited choice of subject matter of floral motifs or chilong. It is likely that this bottle would have been made to imperial order for one of the annual festivals with its stellar quality of carving and the uncluttered placing of the design.

Similar examples can be found in Clare Lawrence. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 256-257, no. 122.60 and Robert Kleiner. Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, 1999, p. 131, no. 112.

Exquisitely carved overlay decoration. Generally in very good condition but with a small chip on one petal of a prunus blossom on the shoulder. Minute, but barely noticeable, nibbles at foot ring.