The decoration of chilong on the present washer is closely related to the inlaid designs in precious metals found on bronzes of the Warring States period (475–221 BC) and the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). Such archaistic motifs were highly admired by the Qianlong Emperor, an avid collector and connoisseur of antiquities, and were frequently employed in the decorative arts produced for his court. The emperor appears to have had a particular fascination with carved red-overlay glass; notably, the earliest entries in the Palace Archives relating to glass in the first year of his reign record an order for two red-overlay glass vases, one with an opaque white ground (see Luster of Autumn Water: Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, p. 74).
The shape of the present washer suggests that it was likely originally intended to be used with a stand designed to support its small foot. A comparable red-overlay glass vase from the Qianlong period is illustrated in Elegance and Radiance: Grandeur in Qing Glass – The Andrew K. F. Lee Collection, Hong Kong: Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000, p. 280, pl. 104. See also a related Imperial four-colour glass hu-form vase from the Shorenstein Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2929, and an Imperial ruby-red overlay white glass bottle vase from the Qianlong period, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2018, lot 2914.