The opaque white glass bottle is enameled on one side with a lady standing before a fabric-draped chamber clutching her sleeve cuff in her mouth and standing next to a blossoming peony, the reverse with a long but partially illegible inscription, possibly referring to the scene, followed by the seals shan gao('as high as the moutains') and Wu Yuchuan. The underside is marked Da Qing nian zhi (made in Great Qing) in iron red. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper

Provenance: Robert Kleiner, London, 2009.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 4979.

Exhibited: Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Convention, The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.

Notes: The fine quality of this bottle establishes its rarity among embellished glass snuff bottles. Not only is the applied shell incised to enhance the viewers interpretation of the foliage and birds, but it is applied in such thin sections that it allows light to shine through, showing the attractive green and blue iridescent colors of the shell. 

Another blue glass bottle with similar shell embellishment was in the collection of Lila S. Perry, illustrated in her book Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, Rutland, Vermont, 1960, p. 146, no. 160.

Christie's. The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part III, 14 September 2016, New York, Rockefeller Plaza