Chinese snuff bottle, porcelain, depicting the Empress Wu Zetian, Qing, 1821-1850.

The bottle is a cylindrical form made of porcelain and painted in enamel colours, green, red, yellow, blue, brown, black and pink. There is gilding on the flat upper surface of the neck rim and no stopper.
The painted decoration depicts the Empress Wu Zetain from an illustration in Wu shuang pu, 'A Register of the Incomparable'. The inscription is a contracted version of her biography in that publication.
The body of the bottle slops towards a sharp foot with a high curved indentation underneath.

Bequeathed by Mrs A. B. Woodcroft

Bequeathed by Mrs. A. B. Woodcroft, accessioned in 1903. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

Snuff is powdered tobacco, usually blended with aromatic herbs or spices. The habit of snuff-taking spread to China from the West during the 17th century and became established in the 18th century. People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. By the 20th century these bottles had become collectors' items, owing to the great variety of materials and decorative techniques used in their production.

412-1903