See art in miniature from a bygone age
Print Edition
A collection of snuff bottles from Yantai Museum in Shandong Province is on display in Jiading. Some 200 pieces have already attracted thousands of visitors to Jiading Museum to appreciate its beauty and charm.
Imported from Western countries, snuff, a powdered tobacco, quickly became popular in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), creating a great opportunity to make containers for it. Even though snuff is no longer used in modern society, snuff bottles are known for their delicate artwork and elaborate inside painting, leading a number of collectors to cherish these tiny items.
The exhibition is in three sections — glass, jade and porcelain — introducing snuff bottles through different materials and presenting the Chinese snuff bottle culture.
Snuff bottles involve many Chinese traditional arts, featuring techniques that include calligraphy, painting, sculpture and mosaic on bottles no larger than 5 centimeters tall.
Glass snuff bottles, emerging during the period of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722), are the most common and the best material for painting the insides.
Jade, another natural material commonly used, is favored because it symbolizes the outstanding character of Chinese people throughout history, while jadeite and amber are also employed.
Porcelain snuff bottles were created due to the influence of the emperors in the Qing Dynasty, with porcelain in a golden age during the Yongzheng (1678-1735) and Qianlong (1736-1796) periods.
The inside paintings are worth a close examination in the glass sector because of the complex skills involved and the beauty of the pictures. Fish, birds, poems, scenes and portraits are the most common topics of the inner paintings. They are only a few centimeters high and painted by manipulating the brush through the neck of the bottle.
A skilled artist might complete a simple bottle in a week while something special could have taken a month or more. The best craftsmen would produce only a few bottles in a year.
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