Lot 243
Treasury 5, no. 933 (‘Marital Longevity’)
HK$50,000

Transparent sapphire-blue and slightly milky glass, heavily suffused with air bubbles and small white flakes; with a flat lip and protruding foot made up of element of the design; carved as a single overlay with a continuous design of two blossoming prunus trees, the foot carved as a large prunus flower
1760-1820
Height: 7.53 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.72/1.40 cm
Stopper: coral; vinyl collar

Provenance:
Robert Hall (1985)

Published:
Treasury 5, no. 933

The ground of many bottles that we believe to be from the earlier phase of overlay carving is often of a slightly milky, or cloudy, glass more or less suffused with bubbles. Snowstorm grounds—those in which the colourless glass includes a mass of tiny white flakes—do not seem to appear commonly on bottles earlier than the Qianlong period, and may not have become popular until sometime in the middle of the reign. There is no mention of this distinctive ground in the list of products made at the imperial glassworks in the Yongzheng period, and, as far as we know, it does not feature on any objects that can be reliably dated to earlier than the Qianlong period. Care should be taken, however, to distinguish the more sparsely-flecked material from heavily bubble-suffused glass, which may be earlier. A mass of air bubbles of different sizes, of which Sale 3, lot 80> supplies an example, may appear very similar to a snowstorm ground until closely examined, and equally many snowstorm grounds are also heavily bubble-suffused, further confusing the issue. We have suggested that the tiny white flakes are probably finely ground white glass fragments sprinkled into clear glass. It is likely that during the earlier phase of its use these fragments would have been used more sparingly, with the densely packed, heavy snowstorms being a later development. Perhaps the standard for the mid-Qianlong period is represented by the group of bannermen, or other horse-bottles, a few of which we can date with some confidence to the 1760s (see Sale 1, lot 43, and Sale 4, lot 94), and which are evenly but not heavily suffused with white flakes and some air bubbles. The more dense snowstorms, represented by the ground on this example, seem to date from the latter part of the Qianlong reign, into the nineteenth century. The other dating landmark in this area is the coin bottle in the J & J Collection (Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, no. 385) which, in view of the date on the coin, cannot be earlier than 1796, and is more likely to date from the early decades of the nineteenth century.

The mouth on the present bottle is still relatively wide, and the style and quality of the carving would allow a date from the late Qianlong period. It may also have been made at the imperial glassworks, but in the absence of further corroboration, we have made no such attribution.

The carving style is very confident here, with excellent undercutting of the relief features and a very even ground plane. The overlay is in blue, which is a rare colour for the design, further adding to its appeal.

This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.