A VIVID BLUE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE WITH AVENTURINE
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1821-1850
Of rounded form with shoulders sloping to a tall cylindrical neck with a wide mouth, and with a neatly carved oval base, of a vivid sapphire-blue color, suffused with aventurine splashes, the flat base with a four character Daoguang nianzhi mark and of the period; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.2cm) high
Footnotes:
1821-1850 寶石藍料灑金鼻煙壺一件
御製 或為北京宮廷作坊製
《道光年製》楷書款

Provenance:
C. G. Sloan & Co., November 1989
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 9

Sapphire-blue and aventurine (or golden star) glass are both colors listed in the imperial archives relating to items ordered by the Zaobanchu. Aventurine (golden star) glass was a popular and innovative color during the Qianlong period and this continued into the nineteenth century. In 1773, the Archives list an order for the Paint and Wood workshop to make a stand for a glass vase of blue golden star color, an indication that this combination was already a favorite of the court. Whilst eighteenth-century bottles produced in the Palace Workshops tended to be small in size, regardless of material, by the Daoguang period they were slightly larger as is the case here.

There are two minute rough surface areas on one side near the base. The bottle has brilliant aventurine splashes throughout on the lustrous bottle.