Lot 1152
Treasury 5, no. 957 (‘Squirrel Soufflé’)
HK$81,250

Transparent emerald-green and lemon-yellow glass, the former with a few scattered air bubbles of various sizes, the latter suffused with them, some elongated, and with tiny black specks; with a flat lip and recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding rounded foot rim; carved as a single overlay with a continuous design of a squirrel on a severed leafy grape vine growing with fruit
1790-1860
Height: 4.45 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.53/1.20 cm
Stopper: stained quartz; vinyl collar

Provenance:
Zhirou Zhai Collection
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong (1993)

Published:
Treasury 5, no.957

This striking bottle displays several indications of an early nineteenth-century date. While the design is well composed and vital, control of the carving is inferior to that we might expect from the high point of the art in the eighteenth century. Although controlled reasonably well, the ground plane still exhibits signs of a less-than-perfect finish, and control of the overlay colour on the foot rim is poor. The yellow glass is also atypical for earlier production, being heavily flawed, with tiny dark specks; the specks, while barely visible and certainly not obtrusive in normal light, become very obvious under transmitted light. Owing to the mass of tiny air bubbles it contains, the yellow also exhibits an unusual and distinctive soufflé effect.

The colour combination does not appear to have been employed very often by glassmakers during the earlier phase of production, despite its striking appeal. While the yellow ground may indicate an imperial bottle, and the imperial glassworks remains a possible origin, the deeper into the nineteenth century one ventures, the less the degree of certainty regarding either the sanctity of imperial prerogatives or the location of courtly production. Apart from the indications of typically nineteenth-century production, the bottle is very well formed and displays a lively design, with particularly impressive control of the thin lines of the grape vine.

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.