In China, glass bottle products from thousands of years ago have been unearthed. However, because glass was not valued by people in ancient China and people preferred metal technology, lacquer technology and ceramic technology at that time, there was almost no trace of tradition in glass art in China.
In fact, glass beads were invented in China as early as the third and fourth centuries BC. It was not until the fifth century that there was a blowing method. The Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty was deeply influenced by the West and set up the autocratic glass yard in 1680. The works of this period were concise and full of Chinese flavor. Most of the works were inspired by the modeling of porcelain and carved with brocade like dragon patterns, rolling patterns and flowers.
The glass of Han tomb is the earliest glass bottle container in China. After 18 years of painstaking research, the archaeological expert group of the State Administration of cultural relics recently disclosed to the outside world that the glass unearthed from the Han tomb in beidongshan, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province is the earliest known and most found Chinese made glass bottle container, which was made in the 2nd century BC.
Beidongshan Han tomb in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province is one of the largest Han tombs with the largest number of tombs and the most complex structure found in China. It was jointly excavated by Xuzhou Museum and teachers and students majoring in history and Archaeology of Nanjing University in 1986. The glass products found in the tomb include 16 glasses, a glass beast and three small pieces of blue glass. They were buried between 175 and 128 BC.
Experts believe that the glass unearthed from the Han tomb in beidongshan, Xuzhou should be made no later than 175 BC to 128 BC, earlier than the glass in Liu Sheng’s tomb. Therefore, it should be the earliest known domestic glass.
At present, many of the ancient glass unearthed in China are opaque, as are the glass bottles unearthed from the Han tomb in beidongshan. The reason why these glasses were opaque was not that they would not melt transparent glass at that time, but to obtain imitation jade products through melting.
Experts believe that the owner of Dongshan Han tomb is Liu Dao, king of Chu. During the Western Han Dynasty, people regarded death as life. Tombs should be arranged according to the owner’s lifestyle, such as rooms, wells, granaries, etc. These glass bottles may have been used by the owner during his lifetime. It is understood that before the discovery of these glasses in Xuzhou, the earliest known domestic glass bottles and containers were glasses unearthed from Liu Sheng’s Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Mancheng, Hebei Province, which were manufactured in 173 BC.