A rare group of six mould-blown square gilt-glass bottles, Western India, probably Gujarat, 18th century

Christie's London, 7 October 2008, lot 230.

Glass bottles of this shape, with a slightly domed shoulder, are known as 'case bottles' due to their resemblance with European bottles made for transport in wooden cases, notably Dutch and German moulded glass vessels. A certain number were actually produced in Europe and decorated in India, and most likely these would have been made as sets such as this group (S. Carboni, Glass from Islamic Lands: The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait National Museum, London, 2001, p.389). The establishment of a trading outpost by the Dutch East India company in Gujarat in 1618 confirms this link and subsequent influence (ibid.)

Nancy Um further looks at these vessels as diplomatic ambassadors, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the Indian Ocean with trading networks extending as far as Japan. She notes "[...] the key role that they played as gifts, filled with aromatic oils, packaged in custom-made boxes, and delivered to high-profile recipients around the Indian Ocean" which were "[...] deployed strategically across the extended commercial networks of the Dutch overseas empire" (N. Um, 'Nested Containers for Maritime Journeys: Tools of Aromatic Diplomacy around the Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century Indian Ocean' in University of Chicago Press Journals, Volume 25, Number 2, Fall-Winter 2018, The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture. 

Comparable pieces are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. nos.1891A-1855 and 14-1867; Los Angeles County Museum, LA (inv. no.M.88.129.204), the Nasser D. Khalili Collection, London (Khalili 2008, p.107), the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, inv. no.59.1.583, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no.21.26.11, the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, inv. no.LNS 82 G.