Lot 2
Treasury 5, no. 927 (‘Restrained Happiness’)
HK$125,000

Transparent sapphire-blue glass and transparent milky glass with a few small bubbles and one large bubble; with a flat lip and recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding flat foot rim; carved as a single overlay with a circular framed panel on each main side with a bat flying above a severed leafy branch with two peaches, the narrow sides with mask-and-ring handles
Attributable to the imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1730 – 1770
Height: 5.82 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.78/1.41 cm
Stopper: gilt-bronze, of ‘official’s hat’ shape with integral finial and collar, chased with a formalized floral design

Provenance:
Thewlis Collection
Clare Lawrence (1990)

Published: 
Arts of Asia, July-August 1972, p. 24
Thewlis and Lawrence 1990, no. 60
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 125
Treasury 5, no. 927

Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, March – June 1994
National Museum of Singapore, November 1994 – February 1995

A number of imperial features here encourage an attribution to the imperial glassworks. The compressed sphere with circular panels of decoration is among the most popular place combinations of form and design, extending back to the painted enamel-on-metal bottles of the Kangxi period. The mask handles also are typically courtly, and the upper neck rim a feature that appears on a number of glass overlays datable to the Qianlong period.

This bottle gives the impression of being a little more effete than the powerful carvings typical of similar works. It may be a little later than them and perhaps belongs to the mid- to late-Qianlong period, although this may be suggested by no more than the rather formal subject matter and smaller scale of the detail.

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.