The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 229

229
**AN UNUSUAL GREEN OVERLAY BROWN GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
ATTRIBUTED TO BEIJING, 1770-1850 Of compressed form with flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a footrim, carved through the transparent green overlay to the opaque café au lait ground with a continuous design of a praying mantis on each main side, each insect beside a pair of pea pods amidst scrolling vines, coral stopper with gilt-metal collar
6.6 cm. high
$6,000-8,000

P R O V E N A N C E :
Hugh Moss Ltd.

E X H I B I T E D :
Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, 1992.

Translucent emerald-green on a brownish-beige ground appears to have been one of the more popular of the unusual combinations of glass overlay. This combination seems to have been favored in the mid-to later Qing period. See Moss, Graham and Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, no. 390 for a green glass on brown overlay bottle of similar form carved with a continuous design of the “Three Friends of Winter.” See also, Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, no. 950, for a green overlay on blue glass snuff bottle carved with a praying mantis on a pea vine on one side and a katydid on a cabbage on the other.

The praying mantis (tanglang) is a symbol of fertility, because of the large number of eggs it lays. The symbolism is reinforced by the second syllable (lang), which is a homonym for one of the Chinese characters meaning “son.” A pea pod swollen with seeds provides another symbol of fertility.

The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 229