Snuff Bottle
1736-1795 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Brief description | Chinese snuff bottle, 1736-1795, Qing dynasty; copper, with painted enamel decoration depicting a flowering plant. |
| Physical description | The bottle is a flattened pear form with a dome-shaped stopper. It is formed of enamels painted on copper, pink, blue, green and brown on a white ground, the copper exposed at the neck and foot; stopper of metal. The decoration depicts a flowering plant with pink and blue flowers growing by a rock. There is a similar design on the reverse and around the neck a border of interlace pattern in blue. On the stopper a dragon's head. The oblong foot is enamelled underneath. |
| Style | |
| Credit line | Given by Brig. Leslie H. Aste |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | 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. |
| Bibliographic reference | White, Helen. Snuff Bottles from China. London: Bamboo Publishing Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. 291p., ill. ISBN 1870076109. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | FE.61-1970 |
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| Record created | September 26, 1998 |
| Record URL |
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