{"id":7236,"date":"2025-05-15T19:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T19:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/?p=7236"},"modified":"2025-05-20T18:23:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:23:27","slug":"sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"Sculpting with Color: The Art of Peking Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although practiced for centuries, Chinese glass-making gained prominence during the Qing-dynasty with the introduction of Peking glass. Originally used for the production of snuff bottles<\/a>, a favored imperial gift, Peking glass has origins in the Kangxi period (1662-1722), when the Emperor first established a glassmaking workshop in the imperial palace in Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapting Italian glass techniques, glassmakers developed a type of glass that was uniquely thick and opaque, the ideal medium for intricately-carved glass objects that mimicked the translucency of jade, semiprecious stones and rare jewels. By the mid-18th century, under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, the complex art form had extended beyond the imperial workshops and China had entered the golden era of Peking glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
A bird-and-flower motif carved in luminous green.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Peonies carved in low relief on yellow glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Similar to the process of making cameo glass, sculptural vases<\/a>, bowls<\/a> and snuff bottles<\/a> were created by dipping a blown-glass form in molten glass to achieve depth and multicolored layers. The outermost glass was then carved away to reveal the inner layers, creating a bas-relief surface design in high-contrast colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through experimentation, artists were able to produce a wide array of vibrant colors, utilizing many of the same pigments found in ceramic glazes, such as colloidal gold for shades of red, pink and purple, cadmium for yellows and orange, and cobalt for deep blues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several classic color profiles stand out among the endless combinations. One of the most common is a two-color design of translucent jewel tones against an opaque white field, known as “green-cut-to-white” or “red-cut-to-clear,” and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Snuff bottles<\/a> were among the first examples of Peking glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
A red-cut-to-white Peking glass vase<\/a> with a mythical phoenix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
A blue-cut-to-clear snuff bottle<\/a> with erotic decoration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Multicolor designs were also abundant, such as figures & charms sculpted from molten glass or forms carved through multiple layers of colored glass, suggestive of five-color (wucai \u4e94\u5f69) porcelain of blue underglaze and red, green and yellow overglaze enamels<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
A five-color Peking glass bowl<\/a> with colorful blossoms in the manner of wucai porcelain. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
A Peking glass charm<\/a> sculpted as a tiny bok choy cabbage, a symbol of humility and wealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most popular of all were forms created with a single shade of brilliant, opaque yellow glass, known as “imperial yellow” after the golden-yellow flag of the Qing dynasty. The rich & glossy color is also known by collectors as “canary yellow,” “egg-yolk yellow” and “chicken-fat yellow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
A delicate teacup<\/a> of imperial yellow Peking glass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Peony and plum blossoms texture the surface of this Peking glass vase<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
A Peking glass snuff bottle<\/a> in monochrome yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though multicolor designs of two or more colors were popular throughout the later Qing-dynasty (1644-1911), artists also created Peking glass forms in a single, statement-making color. Whether carved in relief or left undecorated, these opaque glass forms were favored for their saturated color and refined simplicity, placing emphasis on the vessel’s silhouette in the longstanding tradition of Chinese monochrome porcelain<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
A minimal vase<\/a> in singular blue color, with bottleneck shape and no surface designs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Rings of blue around the lip reveal the many layers of glass that comprise this bottleneck vase<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DISCOVER VASES & JARS<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Imperial Yellow Peking Glass Vase<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Green & White Peking Glass Lotus Vase<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Blue Peking Glass Bottle Vase<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although practiced for centuries, Chinese glass-making gained prominence during the Qing-dynasty with the introduction of Peking glass. Originally used for the production of snuff bottles, a favored imperial gift, Peking glass has origins in the Kangxi period (1662-1722), when the Emperor first established a glassmaking workshop in the imperial palace in Beijing. Adapting Italian glass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[28,25,23,27,24,22,26],"yoast_head":"\nSculpting with Color: The Art of Peking Glass - PAGODA RED Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look at the history and beauty of Chinese peking glass, with vases, bowls and snuff bottles from the PAGODA RED collection.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sculpting with Color: The Art of Peking Glass - PAGODA RED Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A look at the history and beauty of Chinese peking glass, with vases, bowls and snuff bottles from the PAGODA RED collection.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PAGODA RED Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-15T19:23:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T18:23:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/PekingGlass-1_CLHF001-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chloe Yanny-Tillar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chloe Yanny-Tillar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pagodared.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/15\/sculpting-with-color-the-art-of-peking-glass\/\",\"name\":\"Sculpting with Color: The Art of Peking Glass - 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