A TRANSLUCENT SAPPHIRE-BLUE GLASS 'OLIVE'-SHAPED VASE, GANLANPING

Glass vases of this unusual shape, referred to either as 'olive' or 'spindle' shape, are quite rare. Two similar Qianlong-marked examples in opaque turquoise glass have been published: one in the Andrew K. F. Lee Collection is illustrated in Elegance and Radiance: Grandeur in Qing Glass, The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 170-71, no. 48; the other is illustrated by Zhang Rong in Luster of Autumn Water: Glass of the Imperial Workshop, Bejing, 2005, pp. 154-55, no. 24. Another Qianlong-marked, opaque turquoise glass example from the collection of Hugh W. Greenberg, was sold at Christie's New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 1140. This elegant shape was inspired by porcelain vases of the earlier Yongzheng period.