A Chinese famille verte guglet water bottle. Kangxi

The guglet is a long-necked vessel with a bulbous body used to store water or wine before it is served. The name is of Anglo-Indian origin, but it could also be a nod to the sound of a liquid being poured.

This design allowed for easy handling and pouring, while the narrow neck helped maintain the temperature of the liquid inside, keeping it cool in warm climates.

Guglet, kendi, hookah base, pear-shaped ewer or rose-water sprinkler are shapes made in Chinese Export Porcelain that are influenced by the Middle Eastern or Indian markets uses.

While it is difficult to specify the precise origins of these vessels, their use is deeply embedded in the Middle East’s extensive history of pottery and metalwork, which dates century-old history of pottery and metalwork. The shape of the guglet could be associated with Kendis, where the base serves as a support for the hand holding the neck, this bottle loses its pouring spout when the material changes from Persian silver to Chinese porcelain. The guglet shape also derives from the “garlic neck bottle vase” produced in China during the first half of the 17^th century, which in turn was inspired by Iznik bottles.

This example is particularly unusual due to its quality of painting and the predominantly rouge-de-fer enamels.

Major M.H. Soames was an important English collector of the first half of the 20^th century. He lent pieces to exhibitions of the Oriental Ceramic Society in 1947 (Ceramic figures and Celadon wares), 1948 (Exhibition of Monochromes), 1949 (Song exhibition) and 1950 (Enameled Polychrome Porcelain of the Manchu Dynasty).