Cer, China, Qing, glass, inside-painted

The bottle is a squarish flattened flask form with a short cylindrical neck and no stopper.
It is made of glass, transparent, painted on the inside in red, black, green and blue, with carved details.
The deocration depicts a qilin, a mythical creature with a scaly, deer like body, antlers and cloven hooves, but with a bushy tail and a dragon's head (Cammann, 1956, p.102), with books above in a cloud of vapour. On the reverse there is a horse running on water with a yin-yang motif rising out of vapour. Masks and mock ring handles are carved on the shoulders, a magic fungus (one badly deteriorated) painted in each ring handle.
The faceted foot has an indentation underneath.
A qilin was said to have vomited precious writings at the birth of Confucius (Clunas, 1984, P.136). The horse probably represents the dragon-horse which emerged form the waters of the Yellow River bearing the diagram that enabled engineer-emperor Yu to control the waters of the river (Needham, 1959, P.56). This is an interesting example of an inside-painted bottle dating from before 1880, when it was bought by the Museum. The inside-painted decoration has not survived well and may have been done before the technique as it later developed was widely known. It is quite different from the inside painted bottles produced during the last fifteen years of the nineteenth century.

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 the bottle was 'Fashioned in Pekin from material prepared in Shantung'.

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.

435-1880