Footnotes

• Treasury 5, no. 979
  
  藕粉地套多色玻璃嬰戲圖鼻煙壺
  
  A multi-colour glass overlay 'playing children' snuff bottle
  
  Streaked, transparent ruby-red, red-streaked pale emerald-green, sapphire- blue, and milky glass, the first three with scattered, small air bubbles, the latter heavily suffused with them, many elongated, and with a scattering of small white flakes; with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding rounded footrim; carved as a single overlay with two scenes of children playing, one set in a rocky landscape beneath a pine tree with one child about to light a firework while two others watch from beneath the tree, each holding something in his hand, a circle above to indicate the sun, the other with five more children performing a lion dance on a rocky promontory
  1750-1790
  Height: 5.38 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.88/1.51 cm
  Stopper: tourmaline; vinyl collar
  
  Condition: Elongated air bubble broken through to the surface on the outer lip; otherwise, workshop condition
  
  Provenance:
  Zhirou Zhai Collection
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong (1993)
  
  Published:
  Treasury 5, no. 979
  
  This is one of the more spectacular examples of streaked glass, demonstrating that, while some of the effects might have been accidental, it was also used purposely to great effect. We may be certain that the glassmaker mixed red streaks into the pale green glass to achieve a specific effect. On the side displaying the lion dance, it provides magnificent texturing for the rocky promontory on which the scene is set. On the reverse, the streaks are set diagonally rather than horizontally, providing the delightful effect of sunlight through the pines dappling the children beneath. We are aware, of course, that while the sun is to the left of the tree, its light seems to be slanting down from the upper right-hand corner. In Chinese art, however, naturalistic chiaroscuro had long since been dismissed in favour of its more sophisticated abstract equivalent, hence such inconsistencies would not have been considered a defect by the bottle's contemporaries.
  
  The quality of the carving here is exemplary and the ground plane impeccably finished. Neatly defined though it appears to be around the outer footrim, when the bottle is inverted, we discover that the inner footrim is almost entirely in the ground colour. This hints at carelessness in matching the rim to the overlay colour, which we have suggested was a general trend beginning at some time during the second half of the eighteenth century. It has the wide mouth that we believe was a standard from the earlier phase of production, but probably dates from the mid- to late Qianlong era. As so often with the finest quality glass carvings, the Imperial glassworks remains a possible source.
  
  藕粉套多色玻璃嬰戲圖鼻煙壺
  
  混濁不清的白色玻璃，套以多彩料，白色的含多數氣泡，包括拉長的，及及稀稀拉拉的小白碎片，套料含零星的小氣泡；平唇， 平斂底突出圈足，圈足底為一圓棱；雕一層兩幅戲兒景象
  1750-1790
  高﹕ 5.38 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.88/1.51 厘米
  蓋﹕ 碧璽； 乙烯基座
  
  狀態敘述：唇外沿有破開的長形氣泡；此外，出坊狀態
  
  來源:
  知柔齋珍藏
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong (1993)
  
  文獻﹕
  Treasury 5, 編號 979
  
  這是含條紋的套料的最奪目例子之一。雕術是傑出的，地面磨光得極好。只是圈足內壁差不多全部是白色的，這好像是十八世紀後半葉圈足與套料 往往不完全接合的問題。雖然本壺的寬口應該是早期的標志，但這大概是乾隆中後期的作品。考慮它精彩的雕琢藝術，它還可能是御用玻璃廠 製作的。

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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