Snuff bottles at Museu Oriente

Snuff (a mixture of finely chopped tobacco with salt, spices, etc., inhaled and thunderously sneezed out) became fashionable in the 18th century not only in Poland ('tabaka') but also in China. It was thought to possess important medicinal properties in curing headaches and the upper respiratory system. When the emperor acquired the habit, it became de rigeur to take snuff. The habit gave rise to a new art form: the snuff bottle. They are some of the most wonderful art works of Chinese 18th and 19th centuries, but for some reason they remain undervalued. (That westerners, trained on a) large objects of art b) infused with moral or political messages, do not appreciate them is understandable; why the Chinese should underestimate them is not clear).

Here are some of the items in the collection. They are all between 2 and 4 inches tall.

(My own collection, I am happy to say, is smaller but no worse in quality).

Category 1. Painting on glass. This is done with a curved brush on the inside surface of the bottle. (Calligraphic inscriptions must therefore be executed in mirror image).







Category 2. Camoes. These are pietre dure (i.e. semi-precious stones) carved in cameo technique. (Cameo technique consists in carving a two-layered stone in such a manner that one, upper layer is reduced to mere pattern upon the flat surface of the other, lower layer).




Category 3. Porcelain.







Category 4. My favorite: pietre dure.

Category 5. This is a very special piece (first time I see this technique): a bottle carved in a semi-precious stone then decorated in fen-cai, (that is decoration painted in overglaze paint and fired as if it the piece were porcelain):


Category 6. Painted enamel on copper.




Category 7. Ivory