Cer, China, Qing, GLASS, OVERLAY

The bottle is an oval flattened flask form with shoulders sloping to a wide cylindrical neck.
It is made of glass, opaque greyish white with white specks, with overlays of blue, yellow, red, green, black and pink glass.
The stopper is dome shaped and made of a red composition.
The decoration depicts a bird, perhaps a duck, and a lotus plant. On the reverse there is a fenghuang (Chinese Phoenix) standing on rocks and a cloud. There is a bat on one shoulder and around the neck a border of palmate leaves, elongated at the shoulder.
The faceted foot is partly formed by green overlay, with very slight indentation underneath,
The modelling of the overlays is fairly crude and they may have been stamped out in a mould rather than carved.
This and the oblong shape suggest a date in the second half of the nineteenth century, perhaps during the period of upheaval in the 1850's and '60's.

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

The bottle is likely to have been made before 1880 as it was acquired from the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, which accepted few non-mineral objects after 1880.

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.

5362-1901