Frosted Glass Snuff Bottle With White and Maroon Overlays With the Twin Genii of Harmony and Mirth

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Description

This is a well made rounded rectangular glass bottle with a slightly concave opening and resting on a flat oval … Read more This is a well made rounded rectangular glass bottle with a slightly concave opening and resting on a flat oval foot ring. One side of the bottle is an illustration of a little boy holding an opened incense burner from which bats are set free. The other side is another youth with his hair in topknots holding a lotus flower and leaf. The latter is a symbol of purity. No doubt the artist is inspired by a folktale. Both boys are standing on clouds, which indicate both figures are immortals of Daoist Mythology. The only Daoist iconography featuring two boys or two male figures is the Hehe Twins - or in English terms, The Twin Genii of Harmony and Mirth. The origin could well be two historical characters of Hanshan and Shide. Hanshan was a poet from the Tang Dynasty and Shide his loyal servant. Somehow their manners of living were recognized as Zen and they became popular subjects in Zen paintings. It is unknown when they became Daoist characters in popular culture.


The overlay of white outlined in maroon makes a nice contrast with the frosted glass background. The cover is an agate mounted on a metal base with a metal spoon.

There is a four character mark of Qianlong but not of the period. It was probably made after 2000.
The bottle was purchased an antique shop in Tianjin, a seaport for Beijing. The shop is in a newly constructed in typical Chinese architecture and paved in large stone squares. See less