Chinese brown and pink overlaid white Peking glass snuff bottle, late Qing dynasty

This Chinese snuff bottle is an example of Peking glass, created during the late Qing dynasty. It features a translucent white glass ground embellished with relief-carved overlays in brown and pink.

The decorative scheme on the obverse displays squirrels amidst leafy vine tendrils and grapes, a traditional motif rendered by carving through the colored layers to expose the white glass beneath. The reverse is similarly decorated with a bird motif in pink. The bottle is finished with a 'Jixiang' (auspicious) seal mark, which serves as a decorative or attribution element. The piece is completed by a matching stopper, which is topped with a glass cabochon.

With a total height of 6.5 centimeters, the bottle demonstrates the intricate lapidary techniques of Chinese glassmaking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where multiple layers of colored glass were fused to a primary vessel and subsequently carved to reveal sophisticated, multi-colored designs.