S22 realgar glass snuff bottle

十八世紀 仿雄黃料攪色鼻煙壺

18^th century

The slender ovoid bottle with a wide mouth and concave oval foot, the slightly swirled ochre-yellow glass is evenly applied with deep red splashes, with two elongated splashes covering the narrow sides.
6.6 cm high, stained bone stopper

The fine quality and the wide mouth of this bottle suggest that it was made at the imperial workshops. The outlined splashes are particularly attractive, both for their colour and for their even application. For a similar example, see Helen White ‘Snuff Bottles from China, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection’, London, 1992, pls. 63-5.

Realgar is a toxic arsenic compound which tends to disintegrate to a powder when exposed   to excessive sunlight, which is why imitation-realgar glassware became popular for the production of snuff bottles starting from the eighteenth century. 

S22 十八世紀 仿雄黃料攪色鼻煙壺
時代：18世紀。
特徵：壺身呈細長卵形，赭黃色玻璃上均勻地塗有深紅色斑紋。
尺寸：高6.6公分；染色骨蓋。