snuff bottles

history

snuff is a kind of pharmaceutical preparation in which perfect ground tobacco powder is blended with a rare medicinal physic such as herb's-musk, sealed into wax pills and then stained with one of several different kinds of color, such as dark purple, deep yellow, pale yellow and so on. it tastes mellow and sharp and it is said that it can refresh, make eyes bright, exorcise epidemic diseases and invigorate the circulation of the blood. in the years of wanli (qing dynasty), tobacco was circulated from america, luzon to fujian province in china.

in the late 16th century the custom of tobacco leaf smoking and snuffing was spread from the philippines to japan by portuguese and spanish sailors, traders and missionaries. tobacco was planted in the japanese imperial garden and in the southern coastal trade ports. at the beginning of the17th century, smoking became very popular with the upper-class, just like tea, as a symbol of respecting guests. then it spread to northeast china and korea where snuffing soon became a custom. at the same time, russian businessmen took tobacco, snuff and snuff boxes down to northeast china and inner-mongolia.

the chinese snuff bottle is at the epitome of chinese arts, involving skills such as painting, calligraphy, carving, inlaying, handicrafts, ceramics, glassware, enamel, etc. and it is. it really is! this is why the chinese snuff bottle has been well-known all over the world for years.

during the qing dynasty, bottles were mainly made in guangzhou, beijing, boshan (in shandong province), inner-mongolia, liaoning province and tibet. inner-mongolia was famous for its silver snuff bottles, liaoning for agate ones, and tibet for metal bottles.

to make an inside painting in a bottle, a painter must work on the rubbed inside surface through the mouth of the bottle. fine pictures are painted and it looks magnificent and smooth, gaining much admiration and making them fairly expensive in europe.

it is said that the craft emerged between the years of qianlong and jiaqing (two qing dynasties), so it has been a kind of chinese art for 200 years. here's a legend of its origin: in the late years of qianlong (a qing dynasty), an official went to beijing for business and whilst there, became addicted to snuff. with the failure of his business and all his money running out, he had to lodge in a poor temple. due to his snuffing addiction and with no money to buy it, he dug the remaining snuff from the inside surface of a bottle using a smoke-pick. as a result he drew many marks in it. later, a buddhist monk saw this and got an idea. he scratched a picture of bamboo with hooks on the inside surface of a transparent bottle. this may be how the craft of inside painting on snuff bottles originated.