Lot 1146
Treasury 5, no.965 (‘Cinnabar Blossoms’)
HK$15,000

Opaque cinnabar-red glass and semi-translucent dark brown glass (appearing as black in normal light); with a flat lip and recessed convex oval foot surrounded by a protruding rounded foot rim; carved as a single overlay with branches of flowering prunus on each main side
1780-1860
Height: 3.83 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.50/1.05 cm
Stopper: garnet; gilt-silver collar

Provenance: insignificant pin pricks to the mouth, otherwise good condition
Kaynes-Klitz Collection
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 3 November 1994, lot 809

Published:
Treasury 5, no.965

This striking little bottle, which fits into the early-nineteenth-century group of lots 1155 and 1110 in this auction, exhibits the features typical of that period. Any minor quibbles over technical control, however, are assuaged by the striking colour contrast and bold design. These link it also to lot 1177 in this auction, the blue overlay example, although they may not be by the same hand.

Black grounds are unusual in glass snuff bottles, even when achieved by using dark olive-brown glass of such thickness that it appears black or very dark emerald-green, such as in lot 1157 in this auction. They are, however, invariably quite spectacular.

In the repertoire of Qing glass, cinnabar red is one of the few truly opaque colours, but does not seem to have become sought after as an overlay until the mid-Qing period, after which it became one of the most popular overlay colours for the Yangzhou school (see Sale 3, lot 122; Sale 4, lot 44; Sale 4, lot 90; Sale 5, lot 59; Sale 6, lot 113; and the present sale, lot 1027. Sale 7, lot 60, which displays the same colour overlay, cannot reasonably be dated to any earlier than the last decade or two of the eighteenth century, and is as likely to date from the early nineteenth century. For a related example in pink and black, also a miniature, see Sotheby’s, London, 21 June 1995, lot 15.

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.