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| The first Peking Glass factory ( Imperial Workshop ) was built in the Forbidden City within the Palace walls in 1696. It was overseen by a German Priest, who brought many Western techniques of Glass and Enamel work to the Chinese. The first "Peking Glass" items produced were single colored glass that was either carved or faceted. Overlay glass was developed later, which involved dipping a glass item into a vat of molten glass of a contrasting color. After cooling, the second color was carved away to reveal the color underneath. As this technique developed more colors and multiple layers were used. Peking Overlay Glass items are still being produced today. The Imperial Workshop was staffed with the best Craftsmen from all parts of China. |
| The first style or type of Peking Glass bottle is the translucent or opaque single color bottle. These bottles are made in every color imaginable. These were also the first glass snuff bottles to be produced. One of the most popular colors produced was "Imperial Yellow". Mottled Glass is a mixture of several different colors of glass that are combine in a molten state to create patterns and swirls. Many different interesting designs can be create with this technique. Flakes of gold are sometimes added as in the example below. Carved Glass bottles are typically made from a single color glass and either molded or carved. Most of the bottles are carved from a small block of glass and hollowed out as a stone snuff bottle would be. Glass Imitating other materials gave the artist an opportunity to display the best qualities of their glass making skills. Many of these bottles are nearly impossible to distinguish from the real materials without using some type of magnifier. Single color overlay bottles are made with one color base glass and a contrasting color overlay. The base color is most frequently either clear or opaque white. The lesser quality overlay bottles are all single color overlay, but some very high quality bottles are also produced. When determining the value of a Peking Glass bottle the details in the carving is the most important aspect. Bubble Glass snuff bottles are made by heating the molten glass to a very high temperature and forcing air into the mixture. Impurities are also added to the mixture to produce the snowflake glass. Most of the Bubble Glass bottles are clear glass but some colored bubble glass bottles are made as well. Multi-color overlay are made by using different colors side by side on the top layer. Two basic grades of these bottles exist. The first and least expensive uses random placement of the color. The second and better quality, the different colors are part of separate components of the design. Seal Type overlay bottles have a very delicate "seal" carved on the bottle. This seal is the Name of the Artist, Name of the School in which he works, or the Dynasty after which the design was made. Multi-Layer overlay are perhaps the most desirable of all Peking Glass bottles. They require much more expertise and are generally only made by the most experience artists. These can be two layers of overlay glass to as many as four or five layers. The quality of the carving and the thickness of the layer both play a part in determining the value. (the thinner the layers the better) Carved Multi-layer overlay is perhaps the finest display of glass carving there is. The base glass is first carved in the shape of a flower or fruit, then multiple layers are added. Each layer is perfectly carved to expose only certain parts of the layer below. |
