Snuff bottle
Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese to contain powdered tobacco during the Qing Dynasty. Smoking tobacco was illegal during the Dynasty, but the use of snuff was allowed because the Chinese considered snuff to be a remedy for common illnesses such as colds, headaches and stomach disorders. Therefore, snuff was carried in a small bottle like other medicines. Snuff bottle are comparable to the snuff box used by Europeans.
Tobacco was introduced to the court at Beijing some time during the mid to late 16th century. It was originally smoked in pipes before the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. The use of snuff and snuff bottles spread through the upper class, and by the end of the 17th century it had become a part of social ritual to use snuff. This lasted through most of the 18th century. Eventually, the trend spread into the rest of the country and into every social classe. It was common to offer a pinch of snuff as a way to greet friends and relatives. Snuff bottles soon became an object of beauty and a way to represent status. The highest status went to whomever had the rarest and finest snuff bottle. The peak of snuff bottle manufacture was during the 18th century.
The use of snuff increased and decreased with the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty and died away soon after the establishment of the Republic of China. However, replica snuff bottles are still being made, and can be purchased in souvenir shops, flea markets and museum gift shops. Original snuff bottles from the Qing period are a desirable target for serious collectors and museums. A good bottle has an extra quality over and above its exquisite beauty and value: that is touch. Snuff bottles were made to be held and so, as a rule, they have a wonderful tactile quality, a ravishing subtlety we are, ironically, unable to experience as the best bottles are carefully locked in museum cases or in connoisseur’s collections. But even some of the more accessible bottles give an indication of this remarkable characteristic.
Materials and size
The size of a snuff bottle is small enough to fit nicely inside the palm. Snuff bottles were made out of many different materials including porcelain, jade, ivory, wood, tortoiseshell, metal and ceramic, though probably the most commonly used material was glass. The stopper usually had a very small spoon attached for extracting the snuff. Though rare, such bottles were also used by women in Europe in Victorian times, with the bottles typically made of cut glass. [1]
Chinese snuff bottles were typically decorated with paintings or carvings, which distinguished bottles of different quality and value. Decorative bottles were, and remain, time consuming in their production and are thus desirable for today's collectors.
Symbolism in snuff bottle decoration
Many bottles are completely devoid of decoration, others incredibly ornate. As in all Chinese arts and craft, motifs and symbols play an important part in decorative detail. Symbols are derived from a multitude of sources such as legends, history, religion, philosophy and superstition. The ideas used are almost always directed toward bringing wealth, health, good luck, longevity, even immortality to the owner of an artefact, frequently as a wish expressed in a kind of coded form by the giver of a gift. Probably the most popular decoration is the Shou character, a symbol of happiness and longevity, illustrated at right.
Another popular device is a representation of the 18 Lohan, who were the personal disciples of Buddha, just one group of the many revered immortals in China. Apart from the 18 Lohan there is a constellation of other divines who are portrayed, even their innards. The 8 precious organs of the Buddha are venerated - his heart, gall bladder, spleen, lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys and intestines. These are rarely depicted on snuff bottles. Animals, on the other hand appear with regularity, the most common being the dragon.
A dragon is shown in the example at right on a porcelain bottle in splendid red and blue and clutching the inevitable fiery pearl. One of the traditions of Chinese art is that only the Emperor, his sons and princes of the first and second ranks were permitted to own an artefact illustrated with a dragon having five claws. Four-clawed dragons were restricted to princes of the third and fourth ranks, while the common folk had to be content with a dragon having three claws. However, it is common to find that many older bottles have dragons with five claws.
The horse is another animal frequently used in the decorative work. The horse is one of the Seven Treasures of Buddhism. Its symbolism points to speed, perseverance, rank, power and wealth. The symbolism of wealth and power obviously came about because the horse carried those of importance. In the example at right, the horse seems to be carved in a very amateurish way, but it is quickly discovered that in this school of bottle production, naivete was the style.
The hare is also often found on snuff bottles. Thhe hare represents a wish for long life and even immortality. The example at left shows a hare on a bottle made of wood.
Other commonly used symbols
The wish for immortality is not totally fatuous since in Chinese tradition it is believed that if one attains a sufficiently high standard of morality and enlightenment, one will be become one of the immortals.
The three legged toad is interesting as it is itself mythical. It was thought to be an animated purse containing an inexhaustible supply of coins, hence it represents wealth and has become a symbol of the unattainable.
Another emblem of wealth and abundance is the fish, for obvious reasons. Being so happy with their element they also represent harmony and connubial bliss. They are used in a variety of decorative ways.
Bamboo, inevitably, is a frequent motif. Because of its durability and its being evergreen it has come, along with many other symbols, to signify longevity. It seems to me that there is something in the universal psyche that hopes for long life and I guess this why there are so many features symbolising this hoped for attribute.
The foregoing is in no way exhaustive. The symbols used are many and their meanings even more varied but this will give an introduction to what can be a fascinating study in itself.
Inside painted bottles
Without doubt, the class of bottle that arouses most interest in the non-collector is that known as inside painted. No other type of bottle arouses as much curiosity or provokes such amazement. These are glass bottles which have pictures and often written characters painted on the inside surface of the glass.
The quality of the painting and calligraphy to be seen on many of these bottles challenges belief. It has to be remembered that these delightful scenes are, first of all, only an inch or two high and are painted whilst manipulating the brush through the neck of the bottle maybe only a quarter inch across, and also painted in reverse. One can imagine that the degree of training and practice required, not to mention patience, must quite difficult. Ursiula Bourne, in her treatise on snuff, suggests that artisans painted on their backs to make it easier to work through the narrow opening.[2]
It has been said that a skilled artist may complete a simple bottle in a week whilst something special may take a month or more and that the best craftsmen will produce only a few bottles in a year.
The earliest inside painted bottles are thought to have been made in the period between 1820 and 1830. As, by then, the beauty of a snuff bottle was probably more important than utilitarian considerations - and filling this kind of bottle with snuff would surely damage the painting inside - few would have been used for holding snuff. Inside painted bottles are still made today - expensively for collectors and inexpensively as souvenirs.
The modern bottle at right is an interesting example. While it is beautifully painted, the picture does not have the authority of a fine artist - the subject is somewhat commonplace, but the technique is faultless. It was purchased from a Chinese dealer who visits China to buy his stock. So there is no chance of it being bought in a back street shop from someone who did not know its value. It was obviously bought and sold in the normal course of trade, with at least three profit margins - the atelier, the merchant and the dealer. Purchased new at 15 pounds sterling, it beggars belief that such quality is available at that sort of price.
At the far end of the quality scale is this masterpiece. It is signed by a well respected artist called Kuie Hsiang-Ku and is dated 1896. It is painted with consummate skill - just look at the beauty and sensitivity of the image of the grasshopper.
Like other types of snuff bottle, the range of subject matter used on inside painted bottles is without limit. There are scenes, fish, birds, poems, even portraits. They are testament to the skill and inventiveness of Chinese craftsmen.