(07/10) Chinese snuff bottles- Historical Context
- Charlotte Ross
- Oct 12, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 15, 2020
It’s strange to think these ornate designs are part of a functional object, some of the gaudy ness sometimes being taken to such extremes that it almost negates that purpose. It speaks of the eccentric-ness of aristocracy, when even the smallest objects in their possession spoke volumes of their wealth.
Some of the first peoples known to use snuff were the natives of Brazil. In the late 15th century, members of Christopher Columbus’s crew observed Indigenous Caribbean peoples inhaling a snufflike preparation of tobacco. The following century, the practice of inhaling tobacco powder was popularized in France, following the introduction of the tobacco plant from Portugal by French diplomat and scholar Jean Nicot. Nicot, who had been to Lisbon, where he learned of the plant’s medicinal properties, reportedly gave the queen of France, Catherine de Medici’s, tobacco leaves and showed her how to prepare a medicinal powder from them. Inhaling the powder as a preventive became popular among the French court. Also in the 16th century, the inhaling of powdered tobacco was practiced by the Dutch, who referred to it assnuf, short forsnuftabak(from the words meaning “sniff” and “tobacco”). Tobacco and the practice of snuffing spread rapidly throughout Europe, taking hold in England around the 17th century. During the 18th century, snuff taking became widespread throughout the world.
At first, each quantity was freshly grated.Rappee (Frenchrâpé, “grated”) is the name later given to a coarse, pungent snuff made from dark tobacco. Snuff takers carried graters with them. Early 18th-century graters made of ivory and other materials still exist, as do elaborate Snuffboxes.
The adverse health effects of snuffing relative to other forms of tobacco consumption such as smoking were once considered insignificant. Similar to all other tobacco products, however, snuff contains nicotine and numerous carcinogens(cancer-causing substances). Hence, snuffing is not only addictive but also associated with an increased risk for certain cancers, particularly those of the oral cavity in persons who place moist snuff between the cheek and gums.(Britannica reference)
The origin of snuff’s arrival in China is a topic of debate. According to some historians and historical records, members of China’s imperial families and social elite were introduced to snuff by European missionaries and merchants. This reportedly occurred during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Other reports say that snuff made its way to China by way of Japan.
The popularity of snuff — tobacco leaves finely ground and infused with herbs and spices — grew rapidly in China during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). As more people discovered the stimulating and relaxing effects of snuff, as well as its ability to “cure” aches and pains, colds, and digestive issues, efforts to create snuff containers began. Chinese and Mongolian craftsmen began developing the diminutive bottles, with a cork affixed to the stopper in order to ensure the snuff remained fresh.
By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the use of snuff and snuff bottles had spread throughout China and into nearly every aspect of society. The bottles were appreciated not only as a means for carrying and accessing snuff anywhere, but also for their artistry and decorative appeal, according to an article by Zhixin Jason Sun, curator, Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
MATERIAL NOTES.
The Imperial Household Department also employed Jesuit missionaries who brought with them the techniques of glass and enamel production, enamel coloring, and so on. As a result, the mid-18th century Rococo style, with its exquisite ornamentation and extravagant court craftsmanship, was instilled into the Chinese art industry, exerting a profound impact on Qing decorative arts.1This confluence of technical skills, brought about by both Chinese and foreign craftsmen, also exemplifies the East-West interaction at that time. The snuff-bottle industry was already independent in the Yongzheng period. This new and prosperous stage of craftsmanship witnessed the transition from the imitation of the Western use of snuff boxes to the development of a style of its own. In the Qianlong period, the production of snuff bottles incorporated still more exuberant subjects and techniques.
The most popular types of glass snuff bottles include:
Reverse-painted-on-glass: Largely said to have become popular in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, they are still created by artisans today. The bottles are decorated with paintings and often include calligraphy on the inside. Scholars were among the first to create this type of snuff bottle, accessing the polished “canvas” of glass through the mouth of the bottle, then carefully painting the scene.
Overlay-on-glass, also referred to as Peking glass: This type of snuff bottle is created when an artisan uses a singular color of glass as the base, then adds layers of contrasting colored glass. After the layers have been added, the artist carves a design. In do doing, each of the layers of glass is revealed, according to an article posted on the Scanlan Fine Arts Gallery website.
Agate: This type of stone was first utilized in snuff bottles by artisans living in Beijing. In a collectors weekly article by snuff bottle expert Vincent Fausone Jr., the author explains that winter temperatures in Beijing could drop considerably, and in that climate, glass bottles could shatter. This led to the use of stone, especially agate.
Enameled: Antique enameled snuff bottles are miniature works of art that required a high level of workmanship on the part of the artisan creating them. The temperature had to be very carefully monitored as the enamel was applied, Fausone Jr. explained, adding that craftsmen in ancient China learned the enameling technique from European Jesuits.
It was common for the palm-sized masterpieces known as snuff bottles to be capped with a piece of jade. The jade would be attached to the cork stopper, which in many cases had a small spoon fastened to it. The spoon was used to assist in sniffing the snuff.
Jade: In addition to serving as the material from which many snuff bottle caps were made, jade was also used as a primary material for the bottles themselves. Over the centuries, Chinese leaders have viewed jade with reverence. During the Han Dynasty, Xu Shen extolled the five virtues of jade: benevolence, honesty, wisdom, integrity and bravery.
Beijing gets very cold in the winter, and they found that the glass bottles, if used in the wintertime, would often shatter from the cold, so they began to make bottles out of stone. They would use their glass bottles in the summertime and then use their stone bottles in the wintertime. They developed the same kinds of techniques in jade, agate, pudding stones, fossil, limestone, all the stones. You name it; it’s been made into a snuff bottle.
These came in all varieties of huge, small, square, and round forms while their decorated patterns were pregnant with Chinese culture—traditional concepts, tales, myths, thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and auspicious meanings, thus bestowing a unique artistic value on Chinese snuff bottles. Such new techniques resulting from the merging of Chinese and Western elements supplied a new dimension to Chinese craftsmanship.
They stopped using snuff in China about the 1920s; however, there were still artisans who continued to make them, primarily for the foreign collectors market. You may notice that there’s an enormous fake market going on now, selling reproductions as if they were 18th- or 19th-century bottles.
It’s fallen out of fashion, you never see public health warnings against it, in it stead smoking has cropped up but even then much more publicly frowned upon then snuff ever was.
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