Pattern Glass Imitating Tortoiseshell

[rpfstoneman]

Many of you may have seen this bottle last spring in the Christie’s Rachelle R. Holden Collection Online Auction of 15-29 March 2022.  As stated here on the Forum in a recent post with another glass bottle that originated out of the Bob Steven's collection, I feel this bottle was overlooked and it did not reach the minimum required bid to be sold at the Holden sale.  Appreciating the bottle's quality and provenance I approached Christie's post auction and managed to acquire the bottle at 62% (including premium) of the asking minimum bid.  Sometimes it works to 'make the ask'! 

Pattern Glass Snuff Bottle:
A small Beijing glass snuff bottle of flatten circular flask-form imitating tortoiseshell.  Bottle consists of a thick white glass body with a very thin honey-caramel glass overlay with dark brown splashes.  Bottle sets on a small oval flat foot.  Domed carnelian stopper set with a thin black nylon collar (no spoon).  Height is 5.1 cm by 4.2 cm wide by 1.6 cm on the side, and weight of 25.5 g, without stopper.

Period: ca. 1750-1830

Condition: near pristine appearance.   

Provenance:   Christie’s, Online Auction 21257, 15-29 March 2022.  Rivers and Mountains Far from the World: Important Chinese Snuff Bottles
                       from the Rachelle R. Holden Collection Online, Lot 27.
                       Rachelle R. Holden Collection, New York
                       The Bob C. Stevens Collection of Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles, Part II; Sotheby's New York, 26 March 1982, lot 33
                       Bob C. Stevens Collection, Tokyo, Japan

Charll

[bambooforrest]

Charll, great find! Persistence pays off....John

[Joey]

Charll, I'm envious.
A beautiful bottle with a stellar provenance.

Only correction - Bob Stevens spent most of the last 20 years of his life in Tokyo, Japan.

Where he died in August 1980, due to eating a grilled, mashed eggplant & mayonnaise salad,
which he'd made but forgotten to refrigerate in Tokyo's very hot, very muggy summer.
Three or four days later, he found it on top of the refrigerator, and thought it was still good.
And when he got stomach poisoning, waited 3 weeks to go to Emergency...

He left California in 1964, after selling his very successful court reporting business.
Best,
Joey

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

Dear Charll,
congratulations, and a correction also from my side: the bottle was lot 27, not 108, in Christie’s auction.
I have a snuff bottle made with this same technique, shaped as an open hand, and had a couple of more simple shaped ones (one of cylindrical form, the other one I do not remember), which I sold because I decided to keep only the hand shaped one, which was better. I think that I posted them here but I can’t find where at the moment.
Here is the link to the hand shaped one in my online collection:
https://www.xipangu.co.uk/mangialupo/?product=g6-a-open-hand-turtle-splashed-layered-glass-snuff-bottle
Your bottle is there for reference. If you wish, I could add “now in Charll Stoneman’s collection”😊
Kind regards
Giovanni

[rpfstoneman]

Joey and Giovanni,

Thank you for the corrections.  I've revised the post above accordingly.  In regard to lot 27 or 108, I actually picked up both bottles post auction.  It looks like it was a cut and paste error following the cataloging of lot 108.

Thanks again for the review and comments, Charll

[Joey]

My pleasure, Charll.
Best,
Joey