These three bottles, of course, are not in the typical Canton pattern but many Canton collectors have them in their collections. Grayish in color they are simply decorated, the larger bottle more refined. There are no rain cloud borders or bridges. As Jane Wilson says: "The decoration is often blurred and of the same quality as many late ginger jars." She pictures 2 of the bottles on pages 40 & 41 in her 1977 booklet. They are quite graceful and not unattractive. The top rims are brown. There are bottom rims and the bottoms are glazed. The smaller bottles are common but the large ones are considered scarce.
Museum
Museum Gallery Items
Water Bottles are a beautiful and stately form with their long neck and bulbous shape. They are also very nicely decorated with Acanthus leaves and a full Canton scene around the entire bottle. The tops with pointed round knobs have long stems that keeps them in place when moving the bottles around. They have glazed bottoms. The bottle on the right has differences from that on the left. It is of slightly poorer decoration, its top has a rain cloud border whereas the top on the left bottle does not (both bottles have the borders at the top of their necks), it has 2 scene panels not the one continuous one. We also feel it is squatter and not as shapely as the left bottle. The third water bottle that stands alone in a separate picture differs in decoration from the other two: it does not have a rain cloud border around the neck's top rim and just below the Acanthus leaves is an unusual Greek Key design (see 2 close-up pictures of neck and Greek Key design). This bottle does not have a top.