The first bottles, we decided to buy this are not carved in stone were made of glass. A wide range of glass bottles can be found in all shapes and colors and a variety of manufacturing techniques.
Much more research is needed to date these bottles, but it is now generally agreed that glass bottles and metal were the first materials to be used. The problem is that the glass has been used throughout the period up to snuff straight today.
The Chinese had little use for the glass before the 17th century mainly because of their expertise in fine porcelain. They had no glass windows, promoting translucent paper. We do not know if the glass has been used centuries earlier in China, but it certainly has been introduced by Europeans in time for snuff bottles.
Cameo Glass
They considered a precious material and has excelled in producing beautiful works of art. Sometimes they treated like a carved stone and a solid piece of bottles, if they blew the glass into molds. Creating many unusual bottles ranging from transparent to white as the background for chroma key work. They were also able to control bubbles by the addition of white spots in the glass, the colors as suggested by the apt names were created: – Sodden Snow, camphor and snowflakes.
These bottles would then immersed in the molten glass in bright colors that would later be carved away to leave a monochrome style design. Some have been plunged more than once to provide more than one color layer. Another technique is to be applied to different areas of the bottle of liquid color blobs of glass. When they were carved the bottle can have up to eight different colors cameo carved without increasing the number of layers.
Quality Counts
To a connoisseur, the number of colors or layers is not so important that it was not a difficult process much more flexible material than the stone carving. What needs to be evaluated is the quality of the sculpture and the overall design. Very often beautifully carved and well-designed color overlay will be worth much more than just colorful but poorly finished the bottle.
To evaluate these bottles color is a consideration, but attention is also given with cameo stone carving, the quality of the sculpture and especially how the background is completed near the edge of the overlay. I chose a single red ruby overlay as a good example of photographing. It shows a spiral Chih lung or dragon on both sides also have a mythological animal mask and ring handles on each shoulder costume from 1750 to 1860. The dragon is a sign used birth like our zodiac signs. (See the photo by clicking on the link at the end of this article).
There is a group of very special, very finely worked bottles collection called “Seal School ‘, because they always include a seal design. They were made later and date from the second half of the 19th century.
Even if they were made in the same manner, layering is much more delicately carved and often the overlay thickness is controlled to create shading. They normally used opaque white bottles as background, but some have also worked on other opaque colors. So far, I’ve never seen on the clear profile or snowflake. * The picture shows a cylinder seal of the School of Fine representing a pair of cats to play with the insects hovering among the flowers. On either side there is a bowl of fruit on a table and on the reverse is another scene of a drunken poet asleep in a garden. (* See the photo by clicking on the link at the end of this article).
Glass sheets
Apart from these types of overlay there are many interesting mottled, swirling, colorful drawings and colored bottles, both carved and uncarved.
Many of them were quite complex in how they were made: some were blown into molds and then hand finished, others involved blowing a clear glass into a mold and then another layer was blown to Within the first bottle. This layer was a thin colored, sandwiched by yet a third clear layer was also blown in. When you look down the neck of one of these bottles you can clearly see these three layers.
A variety of colors have been used successfully, with the gold in the creation of snuff bottles. There is no doubt that their advanced knowledge acquired porcelain firing, and how to react with metal oxides, has been used in the glass.
It was also suggested that besides the mixture of metals, even small particles of precious stones such as sapphires, emeralds and rubies were added to the molten glass.
Particular attention was paid to the feel of the finished material, which was directed by the type of polishing and even the weight was controlled by the addition of lead. With transparent bottles from the inside may be controlled and made sound crazy like those names suggest – cracked ice, fillet of fish or Sea Spray.
Most bottles of really fine snuff have been made in the imperial workshop and other small glass works around Beijing.
Imitation Stone
With such expertise the Chinese were able to do imitations of other materials astonishing. There are many bottles that look and feel like jade, turquoise, agate and other stones. It has been seen in the past that the Chinese as the false with the intent to deceive. I’m sure it was not the case because it was too easy to find by a careful inspection. Under magnification of holes on the surface that could not be polished and the tiny bubbles would be seen evidence of a glass. Finally, unlike the glass stone can be quite easily scratched by steel.
The Chinese enjoyed making convincing imitations of valuable minerals as a demonstration of their ability. Another mineral has been expertly copied Realgar with its bright red and yellow colors swirling, unable to use because of high arsenic content, so these copies would have caused much of the plot.
Imperial Yellow
I mentioned a wide range of colors was used for glass bottles. Colors such as blue sapphires and rubies seem to have been the most popular of the early ones. The Emperor Chien-lung was a favorite color that has declared could be used by the imperial family and was an opaque shade of yellow that is now called “Imperial yellow”.
Not all bottles of that color are truly imperial after his death, this color is available for all. A bottle of real “Imperial yellow” must be one of its period and can not be confirmed by the quality of the bottle and sculpture. The bottle “Imperial yellow” image is carved with an archaic conception of both sides and the period of 1736-1795. (See the photo by clicking on the link at the end of this article).
Painted on the Inside
There is another area of the glass bottles that really amazes everyone, these bottles is the “Inside painted ‘. I have a few examples of the collection, as I usually do not favor them as I think they have never been employed. Once the snuff was placed in them the image would not show up well, and spoon soon ruin the paint.
I also explain that they do not limit inside the glass paint, but applied the same techniques for Crystal and chalcedony. The vast majority however are in specially designed glass bottles with a uniform shape.
What is remarkable is that with such a small hole in the neck, they could paint the scenery inside, animals, calligraphy and even portraits. For the image to see through the window painting should be done in reverse, full details such as eyelashes for example, has been painted first! All these bottles are signed by the artist and many, some are very interesting too, are still manufactured today.
For our own collection I felt that we should have one or two examples and I had the chance to buy the earliest known signed and dated within the bottle painted by Kan-Huan Wen. It is one of the first artist well known and highly respected. He painted the interior of a cylinder of rock crystal, a scene of Buddhist Lions with a poem on the reverse. This bottle is signed and dated 1822. (See the photo by clicking on the link at the end of this article).
Later we acquired another example of rock crystal, and these two are the only bottles painted inside that we have. I think it is quite remarkable that the interior space is so limited, it is difficult to imagine how such a beautiful painting was done on a surface without completely ruining the other.
It was originally a bottle rather badly done twice. I do not know if half the damage that was removed was done before it was painted, but I think it would have been. It was a very bad bottle dug, of little value, before it is painted.
In my opinion, is the fact that he has been so badly dug that makes the painting even more amazing! Take a look at the picture. A scene continues to fish among the water plants was painted in red, gold, pink, white, green and gray, dated 1896 and signed Chan Chu-Yuan. This crystal is a flaw in the natural stone that adds to the appeal of water under the photo. (See the photo by clicking on the link at the end of this article).
Most glass bottles made expressly to paint the interior are much larger than the crystal. Some tables are made, however, difficult to believe possible. There are even portraits that are so well done they just look as well as photographs in black and white!
John N. Cohen A former director of Jacey Cinemas Ltd. Later, the owner of a design and photography studio, now director of Jacey Homes Ltd, a property development company. Interests and Hobbies: A first international award winning photographer who also became a renowned collector of Asian antiques and a passion for classic British cars Jensen. Other interests include skiing and salsa dancing.
For John’s other interests please take a look at: – http://www. jncohen. net
The author was a very keen collector for many years to help create ‘The Cohen collection.
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