G51 A fine “Qilins couple” red overlay glass snuff bottle

Description

Description:  Chinese overlay glass snuff bottle. The bottle is carved through the transparent red overlay to the slightly opaque white, bubble-suffused ground with a pair of qilins on each side. They have a different mane and are holding a different ring at the mouth, probably meant to differentiate the male and the female. Their relative position is reversed on each side of the bottle.

Foot/base:  Convex base and tall protruding flat foot.

Mark:

Dating:  18^th or early 19^th Century

Material:  Glass.

Size:  60 mm high

Stopper:  Agate stopper with stained bone spoon.

Provenance:  Antiquarian market

References:

Notes:  Usually, these red overlay “qilins” bottles have a single animal on each side. Here, we have two on each side, not intertwined, which requires a very finely carving, considering also the small size of the bottle.