Glass snuff bottle, coloured opaque white and overlayed with pink glass, incised and carved decoration, China, 1850-1880

The bottle is a spade-shaped flattened flask form of opaque white glass, with an overlay of pink glass partly cut away.
The decoration consists of a very simplified design of a peach with leaves and branches on each side. There is a smaller peach on each shoulder and a band of pink overlay around neckrim.
The glass has a waxy quality in appearance; the partial nature of the carving and incising suggests that it may be unfinished. The lack of attention applied to the carving suggests a date during the period of disruption in China between 1850 and 1870, or slightly later.
The bottle has a faceted foot formed by overlay with a solid underneath.

Purchased from Professor Lessing (Kunstgewerbe Museum Berlin), accessioned in 1880. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Bought, Kunstgewerbe Museum Berlin per Prof Lessing

The original register entry states that this bottle was 'Fashioned in Pekin from material prepared in Shantung [Shandong]' and is nineteenth-century.

Snuff is powdered tobacco, usually blended with aromatic herbs or spices. The habit of snuff-taking spread to China from the West during the 17th century and became established in the 18th century. People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. By the 20th century these bottles had become collectors' items, owing to the great variety of materials and decorative techniques used in their production.

422-1880