Please complete the form to email this item.

Snuff bottle

Snuff bottle

  • Place of origin:

    China (made)

  • Date:

    1750-1895 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    [Snuff bottle] Semi-opaque white glass suffused with bubbles, with an overlay of red glass, carved in relief
    [Stopper] Green and white jadeite jade set in metal

  • Credit Line:

    Salting Bequest

  • Museum number:

    C.1664&A-1910

  • Gallery location:

    In store

  • Download image

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.

Physical description

The bottle is an oval flattened flask form with wide neck hole.
It is made of semi-opaque white glass suffused with bubbles, with an overlay of red glass carved in relief. The irregular dome-shaped stopper is made of green and white jadeite jade set in metal.
The decoration depicts a pavilion in a rocky place with pine and magic fungus, with a man sitting, perhaps reading. On the reverse there is a boy on a buffalo, playing a pipe, crossing a bridge over water. A pine tree grows from a rock on one shoulder of the bottle and spreads across both sides; on the other shoulder is a banana plant.
The high straight foot is formed by overlay, with high angular indentation.

Place of Origin

China (made)

Date

1750-1895 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

[Snuff bottle] Semi-opaque white glass suffused with bubbles, with an overlay of red glass, carved in relief
[Stopper] Green and white jadeite jade set in metal

Dimensions

Height: 6.1 cm

Descriptive line

semi-opaque white glass snuff bottle with stopper, with an overlay of red glass carved in relief, China, 1750-1895

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

White, Helen. Snuff Bottles from China. London: Bamboo Publishing Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. 291p., ill. ISBN 1870076109.

Materials

Glass; Metal; Jade

Techniques

Carving

Subjects depicted

Boy; Rock; Bridges (built works); Pine; Fungus

Categories

Containers; Personal accessories; Glass

Collection code

FEC

Download image
Qr_O8103
Ajax-loader