70 - A RARE FACETED MILLEFIORI SANDWICHED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE IMPERIAL, BEIJING PALACE WORKSHOPS, 1700-1840

A RARE FACETED MILLEFIORI SANDWICHED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE IMPERIAL, BEIJING PALACE WORKSHOPS, 1700-1840 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of faceted octagonal profile, the imported European segments of glass sandwiched between a blue inner and clear outer layer of Chinese glass, containing swirling white, green and blue canes, with coppery gold and iron-red inclusions Height: 4.5cm Provenance: Jiulong Tang, Taipei, 1997 Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 8th November 1997, (a copy of the original invoice available) This extremely rare glass bottle (one of only two known) is made of imported rods of European glass of the type found in Venetian and Murano glass vessels of the seventeenth century. The Jesuits are known to have imported glass to the Palace workshops at the outset and for much of the early eighteenth century to supplement what could be made in Beijing and elsewhere in China and to provide types which could not be made in China. Occasionally rods like this of this obviously imported material are found incorporated into Chinese works of art, although most date from the eighteenth century and are not nearly so obviously imported and are probably. Chinese copies (for instance, see Sotheby’s New York, 25th October 1997, lot 29 which may or may not be European, and lot 31 which is definitely Chinese). The other feature of this bottle which suggest that it is very early is the shape and the faceting. Faceting of this elongated octagonal form was taken from the seventeenth century watches imported to the Court at Beijing in the Kangxi period and then became a staple of Courtly glass production, although this form became more regular and symmetrical and less elongated as time passed, evolving into the standard square form of the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. This is close to known watches of the seventeenth century in metal and crystal, for instance, and the combination of form and material suggest that it is very early from the production of the Imperial workshops, while the Jesuits were still fully involved in production, and probably from the Kangxi period. As such it is a unique and extremely important landmark in glass snuff bottles. The gold-coloured flakes are also an indication of early period. The Chinese were fascinated by Aventurine glass, of brown colour with gold flakes in it, and imported in during the Kangxi period, only learning how to make it themselves probably in the 1740’s. This is a very early style of simulating this gold-stone glass by using metallic flakes in the glass. Another different but related bottle which is also comparable and may be similarly early and made from imported material is illustrated by Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles (I) no. 31, which is also faceted but with inclusions in clear glass only and without any gold flakes Ω This Lot was imported from outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission regime 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer” and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium