Vintage Inside Painted Crystal Bottle Dated 1955

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This inside painted snuff bottle is made of a fine crystal glass. Its flattened rectangular shape provides fine spaces for … Read more This inside painted snuff bottle is made of a fine crystal glass. Its flattened rectangular shape provides fine spaces for the inside painting - designs of a swallow and lotus leaves on one side, and a bird, possible a magpie sitting on a tree branch on the other. Both paintings are done on a pale olive green ground. Poetic inscriptions are written in running script on both bird paintings, one has a Chinese cyclical date of 1955. It is paired with a dark stone stopper encased in brass and a brass spoon. The clean lines of the bottle enhance the bottle's elegance.

Generally speaking, snuff bottles made in the 1950's were of high quality and artistic in nature. Liu Shaoqi, an important politician who became President of the People's Republic of China in the late 1950's was a great patron of the arts and he encouraged the artisans to produce good works of arts and crafts until productions came to a standstill at the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. See less