Cer, China, Qing, GLASS, OVERLAY

The bottle is an oblong flattened flask form with shoulders sloping to a wide, slightly splayed, cylindrical neck. The neck hole is wide in relation to the neck-walls and the bottle has a dome-shaped stopper.
It is made of glass, opaque white, with a thin overlay of green and pink glass carved in relief. The stopper is made of a pink resinous material.
The decoration depicts Shouxing, God of Longevity, and a crane, beside a peach tree. On the reverse there is a figure reclining on rocks from which a banana plant and another plant grow. The carved relief also depicts a seal-script name 'Xiao Mou' enclosed by a band.
'Xiao Mou' was one of the studio names of the painter Wang Su who worked in Shanghai during the nineteenth century. While there is scant evidence that he was a carver himself, it is possible that he supplied designs to glass-carving workshops (see Tsang, 1979, p8).

Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology

Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology (Jermyn Street, London), accessioned in 1901. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street

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.

5363-1901