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CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES
By most terms of history in China, snuff bottles are a relatively
recent development. Tobacco reached China toward the end of the
16th Century. Similar in time to its’ introduction into
England. When tobacco was converted into snuff is hard to say but
by the mid seventeenth century seems to be likely. Customs records
document that by 1685 snuff was entering China although it possibly may
have been in use prior to that date. Snuff, however, did not come
into common usage and was largely a habit of the upper classes.
The Jesuits introduced its use at court and soon it became increasingly
common among the court, rich landlords and merchants.
The Chinese believed that snuff possessed
medicinal qualities and that its use helped to dispel colds, cure
migraine, sinus and tooth pain, relieve throat trouble, cause sweats
and counter asthma and constipation. Snuff was believed to be
particularly an aid to digestion. Beijing was always the center
of snuff usage in China. The “Hsiang tsu pi chi”, a
document written in the early 18th Century, notes that snuff was being
manufactured in Beijing at this time. Mint, camphor and Jasmine
were and still are added to snuff in China.
It was not until the eighteenth century that
snuff-bottles began to be made in large numbers. The traditional
shape for snuff bottles were that they were small enough to fit in the
palm of the hand. Generally they were provided with a small spoon
fixed in the stopper and capped usually with a hemispherical piece of
jade. This later touch is undoubtedly a creation of the Chi’en
Lung period. Snuff bottles are most probably an evolution of
the small medicine bottles that are common from an earlier period and
the earliest dated piece is 1653. Snuff bottles often have
either the maker’s name or the date but rarely both are present
together. A large number of Chinese snuff bottles carry the mark
of Ch’ien Lung, but most of these were really made during the
reign of Tao Kuang (1821-1850) or later. Further, most
of the snuff bottles with the K’ang Hsi reign mark were made
significantly later. All of the bottles with interior painting
date much later and were made into the early years of the nineteenth
century.
Snuff bottles are made of a wide variety of
materials. These include coral, ivory, jade, jadeite, mother of
pearl, lapis lazuli, quartz, malachite, agate, turquoise as well as
gold, silver and many more exotic materials. Despite the number
of exotic materials to chose from, glass remained the most popular
substance to use and most surviving models are from this
material. Glass was treated much differently by the Chinese
during this period than it is today. The Chinese cut and polished
it like a precious stone. By mixing metal oxides, the subsequent
glass could be turned into exquisite glass sculptures. The glass
for these works generally originated in Shantung although the cutting
itself was done in Beijing.
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