Glass - Chinese

There was a Dutch Jesuit in charge of the mission during the reign of K'ang Hsi who may have interested himself in the glass industry, since specimens at the Victoria and Albert Museum have both Dutch and Venetian influence, but the initial technical difficulties seem never entirely to have been overcome, and by the reign of Ch'ien Lung [1736-96] glass was once more being decorated in the manner of jade and other hardstones. Glass of one colour cased with that of another was employed in this way, and some fine examples exist which, but for the material, would be much better classified as hardstone carving. Glass snuff-bottles for the most part imitate those of hardstone. Some rare enameling on opaque white glass is the Ku Yüeh Hsüan technique discussed under the heading of Pottery and Porcelain. Although painting on glass was the earlier, it seems that opaque white glass was being used for the same purpose as it was so often used in eighteenth-century Europe, as a porcelain substitute, probably at the suggestion of a Western merchant who may have imported some European glass of the kind.

Sheet glass for mirror- and glass-painting was imported from France and England, and attempts to make it in Canton were unsuccessful.

Chinese glass is represented at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Ku Yüeh Hsüan technique in the Percival David Foundation, Gordon Square, London. [pp. 244-245]