Imperial glassworks

A yellow glass 'kui dragons' snuff bottle ('Imperial Show Stopper'). Treasury 5, no. 828. Imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1736–1770. Photo Bonhams bubbles; with a flat lip and recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding, rounded footrim; carved with a continuous formalized archaistic design of a band of confronting kui dragons framed top and bottom by lotus petals and set on an engraved, floral diaper ground, with further lotus-petal borders at the upper neck and around the base, the narrow sides with antelope... [Lire la suite]

A sapphire-blue glass 'peaches' snuff bottle ('Imperial Peach'). Treasury 5, no. 839. Imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1730–1790. Photo Bonhams Transparent sapphire-blue glass with a few scattered small air bubbles, with a flat lip and flat foot; carved with a continuous design of a severed, leafy branch with two peaches growing from it. Height: 5.1 cm. Mouth/lip: 0.56/1.5 cm. Stopper: tourmaline; gilt-silver collar. Condition: insignificant miniscule nibbles to inner lip; lip probably repolished at some time, and, given the... [Lire la suite]

A Baroque pearl, crystal, glass and gold Imperial snuff bottle, attributed to Guangzhou, 1760-1799, is presented at a Bonhams in Hong Kong, China. EPA/ALEX HOFFORD, LONDON.- Bonhams Hong Kong today celebrated the first-ever “Golden Gavel Auction” in its history, when part of the world’s finest collection of important Chinese snuff bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, sold 100% and achieved world record prices. Against presale estimates of HK$20,000,000 (£1.8m), the sale total was HK$66,146,800 (£5.8m), with every one... [Lire la suite]