Bowl
In 1696 Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) established the first imperial glassworks. He appointed the German missionary Kilian Stumpf (Ji Li’an, 1655-1720) as overseer to teach Chinese craftsmen the art of glassmaking. During the reign of Qianlong (1765-1795) Chinese glassworkers became adept at making transparent and opaque glass objects in every possible colour, such as the purple of this bowl.