Page 95 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17
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•311 Realgar-glass is assumed to have been developed at the Imperial
A CARVED ‘REALGAR’ GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE glassworks during the Kangxi period, when production was under
1750-1830 the directorship of Kilian Stumpf and his fellow Jesuits, who
The bottle is carved through the translucent red overlay with a large set up the glassworks for the Emperor in 1696. Moss, Graham,
peony blossom and butterfy above a blossoming lotus plant, the Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuf Bottles, Vol. 5, Glass, no.
reverse carved with two hanging melons, a bat, a teapot and cup, a 703, refer to a set of ten realgar-glass cups in Denmark that were
crab, a chrysanthemum blossom and a seal probably reading jixiang purchased in Guangzhou and brought back to Europe aboard
(auspiciousness). Striding chi-dragons clutching lingzhi in their the Kronprins Christian in 1732 (for the cups illustrated, see
mouths fank the narrow sides. Ethnographic Objects in The Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650-
1800, Nationalmuseet, nos. Ebc 71-82, p. 218). Several pieces of
2¬ in. (6.6 cm.) high, glass stopper realgar-glass were bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane to the British
Museum in 1753 (see JICSBS, Summer 1998, p. 14, fg. 33; and
$4,000-6,000 R. Soame Jenyns, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts II, p. 145, no. 81). A
realgar-glass waterpot with Yongzheng mark from the Imperial
PROVENANCE Collection, Beijing, is published by Yang Boda, “A Brief Account of
Qing Dynasty Glass,” in C. Brown and D. Rabiner, The Robert H.
The Joe Grimberg Collection, Singapore, Thailand. Clague Collection. Chinese Glass of the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911,
Vanessa F. Holden, New York, 2001. Phoenix Art Museum, 1987, p. 78. For another realgar-glass snuf
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, bottle datable to 1696-1750, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury
no. 3223. of Chinese Snuf Bottles, Vol. 5, Hong Kong, 2005, no. 705.
EXHIBITED 1750-1830年 仿雄黃玻璃雕富貴吉祥圖鼻煙壺
Corning, New York, Corning Museum of Glass, 2007-2008.
Boston, International Chinese Snuf Bottle Society Convention,
The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.
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