A RARE ENAMELED ‘LOTUS POND’ BLUE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE, 18TH CENTURY

Faceted sapphire-blue glass painted in green and white enamels

China, 18th century

The transparent dark blue glass bottle, of compressed rounded form, is enameled on one side with blossoming lotus plants, the large leaves naturalistically detailed. The reverse shows remainders of enameling of what may once have been another lotus scene.
Bottles from this group of enameled sapphire-blue glass are rare. There are two possibilities regarding the enameling: either the glass ground was originally intended to be enameled, or the glass bottle, which in both cases was probably produced in the Palace workshops, was originally intended to stand alone, but was later enameled by the guyue xuan group of painters (although the present bottle is unmarked, likely because the mark was worn off over time).

Shape: Compressed rounded form
Hollowing: Standard
Mouth, neck and lip: Sprawling short neck, convex top and large mouth
Base: Flat rectangular
Design, marks, school: Imperial glass workshops Beijing; possibly later enameled by the guyue xuan group of painters, the mark likely worn off over time
Stopper: Tourmaline cabochon on a white platelet, good spoon
Height of the bottle with stopper: 6 cm.
Width of the mouth: 7 mm.
Width of the neck: 13 mm.
Weight: 36 grams
Condition: The glass is excellent condition, with a tiny manufacturing flaw at the neck and one or two microscopic open air bubbles. The enameling shows significant wear.
Provenance: Hungarian private collection

Literature comparison: Other known examples of guyue xuan bottles on colored glass with their marks intact include one on a turquoise-blue ground (from the Dane Collection, in Bob Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, no. 960) and a small group on yellow grounds (see John Gilmore Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, no. 102; The Imperial Connection. Court Related Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Humphrey K. F. Hui Collection, no. 48; Zhao Ruzheng, Jian Bian Bi Yan Hu, p. 56, no. 54)

Auction result comparison: Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Christies, New York, 19 - 20 September 2013, lot 1609. (for another enameled sapphire-blue glass bottle, also showing significant wear, but with the guyue xuan mark still intact)

少見的琺瑯”蓮花”鼻烟壺
寶石藍玻璃，綠白雙色琺瑯彩繪
中國，18世紀
玻璃瓶身品相極好，琺瑯圖案有磨損
匈牙利私人收藏