A 'Realgar' glass bottle, 18th-19th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

The bottle is of flattened, ovoid form and of a reddish-brown tone accented with brilliant splashes of ochre and orange. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper. Estimate USD 2,000.00 - 3,000.00

Notes: 'Realgar' glass is assumed to have been developed at the Imperial glassworks during the Kangxi period (1662-1722), when production was under the directorship of Kilian Stumpf and his fellow Jesuits, who set up the glassworks for the Emperor in 1696. Moss, Graham, Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 1, Glass, Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 138-9, no. 703, refer to a set of ten' realgar' glass cups in Denmark that were purchased in Guangzhou and brought back to Europe aboard the Kronprins Christian in 1732 (for an illustration of the cups see Ethnographic Objects in The Royal Danish Kunstkammer 1650-1800, Nationalmuseet, p. 218, nos. Ebc 71-82).

Plain 'realgar' glass snuff bottles were made in large numbers throughout the 18th century and a large proportion of them were apparently produced at the court to be distributed as gifts. By the mid-Qing period, carved realgar began to take fashion among the glassworks and many fine examples were produced with this style of decoration. 

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