Glass bottle

13th century

14th century

10-15cm (by observation)

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10-15cm (by observation)

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~7cm (by observation)

HKU.M.2019.2468

It is a blown glass bottle in green color with a rounded body, a narrow and tall neck, a flared opening. The green color in Chinese culture means environment, life, fresh and hope such positive images. Many artefacts and valuable crafts from China are also made of jadeite and it is green in color. Thus, green also means wealthy. This glass bottle is made in Song dynasty and it is one of the earliest glass-made products in China but not made by Lapis Lazuli. However, the earliest glass-made product in the world is produced in about 1 century by Roman. There is also various research to tell us that the technology of glass-making from western is transferred to China during Song dynasty. Thus, this glass bottle represents the popularity of trading product and technology between Eastern and Western in 13th century. In Chinese culture, some picture or pattern represented luck and goodness will be drawn on every craft. However, we cannot see any add-ons or extra decoration on the bottle. This tells us that China is not good at decorating glass-made products during Song dynasty.

A lot of bottles with the same characters are found in the Abud Refuge Cave in Roman Judea. Thus, these bottles are believed for residential usage to store different type of liquid.