Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇

Public Forum Categories and Boards => Glass Snuff Bottles => Topic started by: Rube on April 02, 2018, 11:00:50 am



Title: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Rube on April 02, 2018, 11:00:50 am
Hi Everyone,

Sorry to hog the Forum, but I can't resist sharing  one more that just arrived!  It's a glass bottle imitating realgar, measuring 2 3/8" resting on a flat oval foot.  Does anyone else see the little Easter Bunny on the bottom right of the first photo?!?  It came from Bonhams' latest offering, and was part of a collection started in Cuba prior to 1950.  I'm not a fan of the stopper, although very interesting (it's carved wood with a brass collar, and with a nice spoon) and am thinking about switching it out for a bright green chrysophase or glass one.  What are your thoughts?   

Cheers,

Rube.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: AntPeople on April 02, 2018, 11:13:15 am
👍🏼

Pin


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: albert on April 02, 2018, 11:50:20 am
Ho Rube,

In my opinion the stopper is nice, but a green glas or stone would be better!

Yhanks for share it!!


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 02, 2018, 11:58:58 am
Hi Rube ,

I'm a big fan of a nice realgar bottle as I know you are so good to see you've managed to add one to your collection and yes, I see the bunny.

As we seem to have similar bottles you may not be surprised to hear I secured a decent realgar yesterday. I'll post it here when it arrives.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Rube on April 02, 2018, 12:05:51 pm
Yay Adrian!

Thanks Albert, I just need to find one now.


High praise coming from you, Pin!  You've got the best I've ever seen!

Cheers,



Rube.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on April 02, 2018, 01:52:43 pm
Dear Rube,

     Beautiful Realgar glass bottle. Yup, I saw the bunnie too.
Best,
Joey


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush on April 03, 2018, 05:47:31 am

Dear Rube,
you are killing me with envy! Since long I am looking for a bottle of this type but have never found one.

Kind regards
Giovanni


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Rube on April 03, 2018, 06:32:09 am
Giovanni,

You'll find a great one someday, and I can't wait to see it when you do!

Cheers,

Rube.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 06, 2018, 03:19:15 pm
Hi Rube,

Mine arrived today so here it is. Not as "traditional" as your example which seems consistent with having been blown into an uneven mould and then polished smooth to produce the colours.

Height is 53mm with a Lapis stopper and a flat foot and showing signs of wear.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Rube on April 06, 2018, 04:29:32 pm
Adrian,

That's a beauty!  I like all the different colors represented, and even a bit of clear glass too!

Congratulations, and thanks for sharing it on the Forum. Nice stopper too!

Cheers,

Rube.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on April 07, 2018, 04:00:01 am
Dear Adrian,

      You do realise, don't you, that the type of Realgar glass you just posted, is the earliest and rarest type of this genre? And among the finest.

      These bottles are the ones that serious collectors always went after, and were valuable [UK£500 - 1,000 (US$1,200 - 2,000)] even when regular Realgar glass bottles were cheap [UK£50 - 100 (US$125 - 250)].

     I was taught to date these ca. 1730 - 1770. 
    CONGRATULATIONS.   

Best,
Shabbat Shalom,
Joey


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 07, 2018, 05:49:50 am
Dear Joey,

Thank you, I've had worse news than you've given  ;D

It was another ebay purchase with a "Buy it now or best offer" and a 30 day auction period. I put in an offer very soon after it was listed, even though good Realgar bottles fetch far higher prices at auction, and I was going to go back and accept the "Buy it now price" as I thought it was reasonable but saw it was sold. It was only the next day when I checked my emails that I saw it had sold to me  :o

The mouth opening is very narrow, just under 5mm, whereas I thought earlier bottles tended to have wider mouths ? but it shows a lot of wear from use.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: ileney on April 07, 2018, 10:48:45 pm
Wow! These are really beautiful.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Luke on April 08, 2018, 03:52:28 am
Hi Rube, Adrian,

Lovely bottles! Rube I really like the stopper on yours as it looks like a nice unusual old one, but a green one would work really well too imo. I always have trouble finding nice enough cabochons to fit my bottles.

Adrian, I was watching that bottle also, but I did buy another eBay bottle in the same kind of price range. Congrats! And congrats on snapping up a likely 18thC example! I don’t know if you have registered for the water, pine, stone collection, but there are a lot of realgar bottles shown and discussed on there (a great resource and interesting read if you haven’t!). My understanding of wide/narrow mouths is that wide mouth bottles were a trend in the 18thC, but that doesn’t mean bottles with narrow mouths weren’t also produced. Hopefully Joey will explain.

Best,
Luke


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Rube on April 08, 2018, 11:18:48 am
Hi Luke,

I have been on that site to read some of the published articles, like the one all about stoppers, and the journal articles about Apricot Grove Studio,  but am not a registered user. I didn't even know that was an option.

Cheers,

Rube.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Luke on April 09, 2018, 04:03:03 am
Hi Rube,

Yeah it's a really useful site. Obviously, there is the Marakovic collection on there, which is interesting, but also Moss's own collection, which is huge and a long read putting all the bottles in historical perspective... :)

Best
Luke


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 09, 2018, 02:32:38 pm
Hi Luke,

Yes, not all old bottles had wider mouths but I was surprised at this one as it is probably one of the narrowest mouth openings I have.

Everything else is saying it's a genuine old bottle and it certainly fits with examples from the Treasury books.

I have just been approved on the e-yaji site so I will do a bit of reading there and thanks for the heads up about it.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on April 10, 2018, 09:00:29 pm
Dear Adrian,

      Luke is 100% correct - it can be a sign of an old bottle, but is one of many.
There is no reason that a bottle with a small opening can not be 18th C.
Many of the better Nephrite Jade bottles from ca. 1760-1800 have very small openings, while some have very wide ones.

    I bought a milk glass SB with orange inclusions from Rick on the Forum, back in 1986. It was from the Bob Stevens collection, and the thickness of the wall of the mouth was that of the glass wall. But I had other 18th C. Glass examples from the Arthur Gadsbie collection, with tiny openings.
Best,
Joey


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 14, 2018, 01:33:40 am
Dear Joey,

I read from the e-yaji site that these very small openings, 5mm and less, are sometimes termed "stick incense" mouths and may have become fashionable around the mid Qianlong period when bottles started to be very well hollowed through increasingly narrow mouths which sits with an 18th Century dating and would seem logical.

I have also read that the much larger mouth openings allowed leaves from herbs to be left in bottles overnight to impart some flavour to the snuff.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on April 14, 2018, 01:08:16 pm
Dear Adrian,

      What you write is very interesting, and may even be true, though as a rule I take most things from that site with a grain of salt [or a lot more salt].

      But what was the reason for the small mouths? I have no answer, and think that they would be very hard to fill with snuff.  I have an antique ivory snuff funnel I got as a gift from Belle Schoen, the late Martin Schoen's daughter. It would fit into a mouth 5 mm or larger, but not one smaller than that.
Best,
Joey


Dear Joey,

I read from the e-yaji site that these very small openings, 5mm and less, are sometimes termed "stick incense" mouths and may have become fashionable around the mid Qianlong period when bottles started to be very well hollowed through increasingly narrow mouths which sits with an 18th Century dating and would seem logical.

I have also read that the much larger mouth openings allowed leaves from herbs to be left in bottles overnight to impart some flavour to the snuff.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: forestman on April 15, 2018, 12:15:47 pm
Dear Joey,

It seems the best explanation, to me, is that it was a case of showing off a lapidaries skill at hollowing through increasingly small mouths.

It is surprising how many mouth openings of 5mm or less there were when I graphed all the mouth opening sizes I could find, as you say it must have been impractical not just for filing the bottles with snuff but also for getting the snuff out.

Regards, Adrian.


Title: Re: Easter Bunny Realgar Glass Bottle
Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on April 15, 2018, 03:42:17 pm
Dear Adrian,

      You could well be correct. On both counts.
Best,
Joey