Description
Glass; the ovoid body of bright golden yellow colour, with a widely flared mouth and slightly recessed base, carved overall with a wickerwork pattern composed of an unusually prominent weave, attributed to the Imperial glassworks, Beijing.
This celebrated bottle is one of the most impressive of the series, in materials such as glass, amber and nephrite, carved with variations of the basket-weave motif. Its relatively large size is mitigated by the brilliance and clarity of the-golden-yellow colour and the boldness and skill with which the warp and weft of the weave has been rendered in larger knots than usual. The design is skilfully completed by the neatly finished concave base which appears to pull the whole scheme tautly together.
The use of the basket-weave design as a court motif is well established, Treasury 1, nos. 97 and 98 and Treasury 2, no. 347 and a magnificent example in yellow is illustrated ibid., no. 819 where it is stated that as early as 1723 there is a record of ‘an enamelled red glass oil-basket style snuff bottle’, which might refer to this design.
