Featured Can I please get some initial impressions on this snuff bottle?

Hello, first post .

Please take a look at the attachment... unfortunately not any markings I can see to help identify.

Painted on both sides but this is the most detailed side.

At the bottom there is some faint and worn off braiding and scrollwork in brown.

Thanks!

 

Please note that one should always select "full-size image" when posting photos; it is just easier for those viewing the thread. You may still have time to click "edit" and increase the size. Also, a photo of the bottom may be helpful. Here it is re-posted full-size for the convenience of others:

 

first impressions on this snuff bottle is that it is made from rock crystal and not glass so worthy of a close inspection and evaluation.....a nice bottle.and is it internally painted????

 

Hello and thanks for responses so far.

I will try to get more pictures up as able, but am posting the opposite side now which shows the scrollwork or braids at the bottom a bit clearer.



Yes, internally painted.

Of course, two elephants on either side and a fish head for the lid.

 

Here is a similar one I found online...

https://www.groganco.com/auction-lot/chinese-reverse-painted-crystal-snuff-bottle_814A970B99

Also, it is interesting that more searches yeild vases of the same basic design and rock crystal material on a far larger scale.

 

the clue to this being natural rock crystal is the loops. had to have been carved, and the what appears to be a slightly cloudy appearance of the material .....refer to similar ones carved from jade. as an example...nice piece.

 

Beautiful bottle, EDR.
It is indeed an inside painted rock crystal snuff bottle.

The painting style is 20th century at the earliest. The face is an indicator. My guess is late 20th century.
With inside painted bottles the focus is generally on the artistry, preferably by a known artist, not the age. But in this case the material and carving are more important than the painting.

Could you show us the braiding and scrollwork? I don't think it is worn, the bottle isn't that old. I think it is meant to look that way, the other carving isn't very pronounced either.

Stone doesn't wear off very easily, I have 18th century snuff bottles with almost crisp looking carving, and Archaic period carvings that are also still very detailed.

I think you'll find that is a stylised toad.

 

The Chinese also carve glass and crystal glass, and they also make glass bottles with loops that aren't carved.
But the cloudy appearance that you mentioned is a sign, it is also seen on the base, which would have been clear on a glass bottle.
Another more apparent sign is the internal fracturing in one of the elephant heads. Don't worry, EDR, that is a natural occurence in rock crystal.

 

Fascinating. Also suspected more modern due to the extremely fine lines of the characters and having seen some of these made on YouTube.

Unfortunately the artist didn't leave his name. Does this make sense?

 

Antique inside painted bottles can have those fine lines as well.
Most inside painted bottles aren't antique though. The technique was first applied to snuff bottles in the second half of the 19th century, which is not very old in Chinese terms.
They became hugely popular from the late 1970s onward.

Sometimes antique rock crystal bottles were inside painted in the late 20th or early 21st century. So it is possible that the bottle itself is older than the painting. It is difficult to tell if that is the case, because there is so little wear to rock crystal anyway.

I get the feeling that the bottle is older, but the stopper is a later addition, as is the painting, of course. The style and technique of the toad look different from the bottle.

It does, they are usually not signed, only the best known artists sign. While yours is beautifully painted, it isn't a top piece as far as the painting goes. Top pieces are breathtaking.

 

Fascinating again, and thanks for all this insight and experience. I wonder how many studios in China exist where this is done, if there is a way by researching them, I can trace where it might have come from?

Aside, what exactly is the interior of the bottle sprayed with to form the "canvas"? Before the hooked brushwork starts.

 

There are countless studios, and there are also regional painting styles. That means that a specialist on inside painting can recognize the region where yours was painted.

I must confess that although I also have inside painted bottles, my interest is mainly carved stone bottles, so I can't help you.
But we have a member from Taiwan who collects inside painted bottles. He hasn't been around much, but I'll tag him anyway, and I hope he'll see it: @David Brian , could you help please?

I don't know, but I think it is done after the painting is done, otherwise the painting would be blurred.

 

Oops, I just noticed a mistake there, it was the first half.