hand carved snuff bottle-couples

  snuff bottle 

Porcelain Snuff Bottles - The first specimens of Chinese porcelain date back approximately to 4000 B.C. whereas, the white ware, high fired type of pottery associated with the Tang Dynasty goes back to somewhere around 500 B.C. Our assortment of porcelain snuff bottles showcases some of the many methods used today.

By most terms of history in China, snuff bottles are a relatively recent development.  Tobacco reached China toward the end of the 16th Century.  Similar in time to its’ introduction into England.  When tobacco was converted into snuff is hard to say but by the mid seventeenth century seems to be likely. Customs records document that by 1685 snuff was entering China although it possibly may have been in use prior to that date.  Snuff, however, did not come into common usage and was largely a habit of the upper classes.  The Jesuits introduced its use at court and soon it became increasingly common among the court, rich landlords and merchants.

The Chinese believed that snuff possessed medicinal qualities and that its use helped to dispel colds, cure migraine, sinus and tooth pain, relieve throat trouble, cause sweats and counter asthma and constipation.  Snuff was believed to be particularly an aid to digestion.  Beijing was always the center of snuff usage in China.  The “Hsiang tsu pi chi”, a document written in the early 18th Century, notes that snuff was being manufactured in Beijing at this time.  Mint, camphor and Jasmine were and still are added to snuff in China.

It was not until the eighteenth century that snuff-bottles began to be made in large numbers.  The traditional shape for snuff bottles were that they were small enough to fit in the palm of the hand.  Generally they were provided with a small spoon fixed in the stopper and capped usually with a hemispherical piece of jade.  This later touch is undoubtedly a creation of the Chi’en Lung period.  Snuff bottles are most probably an evolution of the small medicine bottles that are common from an earlier period and the earliest dated piece is 1653.   Snuff bottles often have either the maker’s name or the date but rarely both are present together.  A large number of Chinese snuff bottles carry the mark of Ch’ien Lung, but most of these were really made during the reign of Tao Kuang (1821-1850) or later.  Further, most of the snuff bottles with the K’ang Hsi reign mark were made significantly later.  All of the bottles with interior painting date much later and were made into the early years of the nineteenth century.

Shipping: I will mail your item to you in 2 days after I confirm your payment.

shipping price:6.99(airmail 15-20working days  from shanghai within usa)

Will post to Worldwide

other place connect with seller

Package:
I Use the professional package .when you receive your item , they are perfect .

not include the stand.the snuff bottle can not upright

i accept paypal only.please look carefully before bidding.thanks