G8 A glass snuff bottle imitating a pebble of fossiliferous limestone

Descrizione

Description:  Chinese glass snuff bottle perfectly imitating a pebble of fine fossiliferous limestone.

Foot/base:  Very small concave base

Mark:  No marks

Dating:  18^th century, probably Imperial, Palace Workshops, Beijing

Material:  Glass.

Size:  56 mm long

Stopper:  Coral branch with black glass collar and stained wood spoon

Provenance:  Ex Carlo Cottarelli Collection, Milano, Italy. Bought directly from him.

References:  See in the last picture a bottle of real limestone, although of brown color, sold by Bonhams. The reason for showing it as reference is that its limestone structure is the closest one to the pattern of our imitation snuff bottle that we have found. In fact, we have not found a real limestone nor its imitation with the same fine, minute structure.

Notes:  Chinese glass makers were masters in imitating other materials with glass. This, like the bottle G7, is a perfect example. Many of whom has handled this bottle are convinced that it is a limestone bottle. Big enlargements of the bottle are provided in the last pictures, in order to appreciate the perfect copy of the complex structure of the stone being imitated. That makes this bottle a real masterpiece. The enlarged picture of the base shows the typical swirls of blown glass, revealing the real nature of the material.

About Carlo Cottarelli collection, see bottle C2 in the Ceramics section.