Description
Glass; of small size, the opaque white body of baluster shape with a wide mouth and supported on a raised foot rim of oval section, carved around the shoulders with a raised rib, possibly Imperial.
This bottle recalls the pouches in which many were kept, with just the head and shoulders emerging. Some examples within the original pouches still remain in the Palace Museum, Beijing, Complete Treasures 47, nos. 31 and 101.
A bottle of this shape in swirled brown glass has been recorded inscribed with the personal mark, Shende tang, of the Daoguang Emperor (1821-1850), which might give a clue to the dating of this bottle. The Emperor’s mark, the ‘Hall for the Cultivation ofVirtue’ was applied to objects made for his pavilion within the Summer Palace near Beijing.
A similar white example, but with more rounded shoulders, is illustrated in The Nordic Butterfly Collection, no. 41.
