Footnotes

Treasury 5, no. 767


乳白玻璃月形鼻煙壺
推定為御用玻璃作坊製，北京，1700～1760

Crizzled Moon

Slightly opalescent, transparent, milky white glass with a few scattered, small air bubbles, extensively crizzled on the interior surface; with a concave foot; carved high on one main side with a strap-handle for a suspension cord
Attributed to the imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1700–1760
Height: 4.92 cm
Mouth: 0.69
Stopper: coral, carved as a calyx or twig
Condition: the interior extensively crizzled; the exterior with a fine pattern of tiny scratches and abrasions from use, but probably repolished at some time in the past, otherwise perfect. General overall condition: excellent


Provenance:
Wing Hing (Hong Kong, 1985)

Published:
Kleiner 1987, no. 77
Treasury 5, no. 767

Exhibited:
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May-June 1993

Commentary:
Obviously blown, possibly without the use of a mould, a main feature of this bottle is the small, carved strap-handle for a suspension cord. The simplicity of form is very effective and the carver's hand is seen, other than in the strap-handle, only in the simple concavity of the foot and polishing of the outer surface (the inside may be a fire-polish, but is so crizzled as to obscure any evidence of it). The end result is a unique form, simple and elegant, which, while not quite as comfortable in the hand as the compressed ovoid of Treasury 5, no. 701, is a delight to the eye.

Apart from the extreme rarity of form, its crizzling is an intriguing and informative feature which went unnoticed on its last published outing. It might possibly have been overlooked once again, had it not been necessary to insert a small light into each bottle to check colour, degree of transparency, and bubble-structure. White glass, even that from the Kangxi period, does not seem to have suffered from the chemical imbalance that caused crizzling (see under Treasury 5, no. 686) and yet here it is extensively crizzled. The answer may well lie in its transparency, suggesting perhaps a high content of the colourless glass which was among the colours most affected by crizzling in the early years of the imperial glassworks. This feature allows us not only to attribute the bottle tentatively to the court but to assume a relatively early date, with the caveat that there were probably a number of causes of crizzling, not all of which stemmed from a poor balance of ingredients (see Treasury 5, p.18).

We have noted elsewhere that glass snuff bottles frequently appear to be crizzled only on their interior surface, although close examination often reveals some exterior crizzling (see under Treasury 5, no. 752). In this case, however, there is a good reason for it being confined to the interior, regardless of whether it was originally a feature on both surfaces. The bottle has been repolished, presumably at a time before this phenomenon was recognized as being an important clue to dating and a positive, rather than negative phenomenon in Chinese glass.


含微裂紋的月亮

微發乳光的透明乳白色玻璃，玻璃具零星的微小氣泡，腹內微裂紋頗多；凹底；一面腹上部雕狹條小繫耳

推定為御用玻璃作坊製，北京，1700～1760
高：4.92 厘米
口經：0.69厘米
蓋：珊瑚，雕小枝或花萼
狀態敘述：腹內微裂紋多，因為曾有人享用這件煙壺，腹外有微不足道的磨損，或許曾有人再磿光，此外完善；一般狀態：極善

來源：
Wing Hing (香港，1985年）
文獻﹕
Kleiner 1987, 編號77
Treasury 5, 編號767
展覽﹕
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦, 1987年10月
Creditanstalt, 維也納, 1993年5月至6月

說明：
這件玻璃煙壺顯然是吹的，不是模製的，而雕刻的痕跡只見於繫耳與底的凹入。因而除了奇特魅力的小繫耳之外，最引人賞心悅目的是壺身簡秀的形式。

本壺外壁的拋光也是它清秀風貌的因素之一，儘管大概是大家認識玻璃表面的微裂紋的定期意義以前拋的光。上次出版的時候，沒有人注意到內壁卻佈滿微裂紋。這個現象是插入小電燈查看透明度、氣泡結構、顏色等等的時候才發現的，而是很有意義的。一般來說，白色玻璃（包括早如康熙時的白色玻璃）不發生配方導致的微裂紋。那麼，本壺的玻璃微裂紋是不是因為混合了較多的透視玻璃？早期的透視玻璃易患表面的微裂紋，本壺可能就是宮廷作坊的產品，也可能是比較早的。然而，玻璃除了配方以外還有很多不同導致微裂紋的因素。