A CARVED YELLOW GLASS 'MAGPIE AND PRUNUS' SNUFF BOTTLE Possibly Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1750-1820A CARVED YELLOW GLASS 'MAGPIE AND PRUNUS' SNUFF BOTTLEPossibly Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1750-1820Of flattened globular form, standing on a protruding oval foot framed by a rounded, conforming footrim, with a cylindrical neck and wide mouth, slightly recessed lip, masterfully carved in relief on one main side with a phoenix perching on a leafy peony branch near rocks, the reverse depicting two magpies and a blooming prunus tree, separated by a pair of faux lion mask-and-ring handles on the narrow sides. 2 3/8in (6cm) high1750-1820 單色黃料刻鳳凰牡丹及喜上眉梢圖鼻煙壺一件或爲御製 亦或為北京宮廷作坊製Provenance:Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 387It is clear from recent research by Terese Tse Bartholomew (see the Winter 2022 issue of the Journal of the ICSBS) that the Daoguang emperor was very fond of the best snuff that could be obtained. His interest in collecting snuff bottles appears to often focus on the spoons and stoppers for existing bottles that were in the imperial collection. A bottle such as this would have been made in one of the two reigns preceding his rule. While it appears less formal than some of the 'imperial yellow' glass bottles carved with formalized dragons or taotie masks, the motif of the phoenix, symbolic of the empress, and the two magpies in a prunus tree, symbolic of the wish for joyfulness is fitting for an imperial designation.