Snuff bottle

After powdered tobacco (snuff) became popular in China around the 17th century, snuff bottles (Chinese: 鼻煙壺; pinyin: bíyānhú) became a common means of storing and transporting the substance for use in lieu of European snuff-boxes. Although pipe smoking (either through long bamboo pipes or brass water pipes) remained the predominant method of consuming tobacco following its introduction to China in the mid-1500s, snuff entered use by the mid-to-late 1600s, with the earliest written mentions and surviving examples of snuff bottles dating to the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Use was at first limited to Beijing, although gradually spread to other parts of the country by the 1800s; however, it was still firmly associated with the rich and powerful. Snuff bottles were constructed in a variety of shapes, designs, and materials, but all included a stopper and ivory-handled spoon. Usually small enough to be held in the hand, they could be fashioned from glass, porcelain, minerals (such as quartz crystal, jade, and gemstones), or organic materials such as amber, lacquer, coral, ivory (including the particularly valuable hornbill ivory), and tortoiseshell. Many bottles were fashioned into shapes scarcely resembling traditional bottles, including representational figures of humans and animals.

Snuff bottles were often richly decorated. Porcelain, glass, and enamel bottles were painted, either through overglaze and underglaze methods, while bottles made from natural materials were usually carved or engraved. Porcelain bottles were traditionally painted in blue and white, although European influence led to a large number of other colorful glazes and painting styles. During the late 1800s, inside-painted bottles emerged as a particularly intricate form of snuff bottle not intended for use; these were made with treated glass or crystal and feature elaborate scenes and designs painted along their inside through the neck of the bottle via special pens. By the early 1900s, snuff (alongside pipe smoking) fell out of fashion in China in favor of the newly-introduced cigarette.