DOI issue:
No. 39 (June, 1896)
DOI article:Huish, Marcus Bourne: A little appreciated side of art: Chinese snuff bottles
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0028
Chinese Snuff Bottles
FIGS. 6, 7 AND 3.—BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLES
one, it is handed to the other, who takes a little
out or smells the bottle and returns it. In hand-
ing the bottle it is placed between the palms of
the two hands and advanced towards the person
with a bow.
The most interesting feature in connection with
these bottles is the variety of the materials of
which they are composed.
Broadly, these may be classified under the head-
ings of glass, porcelain, and hard stones, although
we find them made of amber, wood, ivory, bamboo,
and various other materials.
Glass is not a native invention of China, but
came there as long ago as the first century of
this era in the wares which enterprising travellers
n the Asiatic provinces of the Roman Empire
carried from Egypt to Syria and to the Far East.
It can be readily imagined that the difficulty of
transport of this fragile material by land and sea
rendered it of great value when it safely reached
its ultimate destination, and it is not surprising
that it was accordingly classed with gold and
precious stones. But as far back as the fifth cen-
tury glass was certainly made in China, and since
then the art has been practised until a perfection
has been attained which not even the world
renowned Venetians have surpassed.
Its employment in the case of these bottles
probably does not date back more than two or
three centuries, but every variety will be found
amongst them. All the processes used in Europe
are illustrated in their manufacture, one of the
most remarkable being the superimposing of colours
over each other, and exposing these by cutting
away the various layers.
Of the illustrations here given No. io shows ruby
over frosted white—No. 9 glasses of half a dozen
colours over white. The design in each case
having been cut out of the upper layers, has been
polished until a surface has been obtained which
makes it hard to believe that it has not been
moulded on.
The imitation in glass of the texture of stones
is not the least of their successes. It is often so
remarkable as only to be capable of detection by
the test of temperature, To these may be added
the varieties known as avanturine, and all those
which have usually been regarded as exclusively
Venetian.
It is impossible within the limits of an article
such as this to treat of the bottles made of porce-
lain, for the history of that fabric dates from the
ninth century, and it is not impossible to obtain
snuff bottles which date back many hundred years.
Every variety of the art of ceramics is to be
found, from beautiful miniatures of renowned blue
and white (Figs. 6, 7 and 8) to delicate examples ot
the families verte and rose, as well as those where
splashed colour and a crackled surface is the form
of ornament. It is little wonder that where as
much trouble has been expended on the midgets
as on their large brethren, the large prices of the
latter are not altogether disproportionate to those
asked for the former.
Where variety is a feature in the manufacture ot
almost every example, it is invidious to single out
13
FIGS. 6, 7 AND 3.—BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLES
one, it is handed to the other, who takes a little
out or smells the bottle and returns it. In hand-
ing the bottle it is placed between the palms of
the two hands and advanced towards the person
with a bow.
The most interesting feature in connection with
these bottles is the variety of the materials of
which they are composed.
Broadly, these may be classified under the head-
ings of glass, porcelain, and hard stones, although
we find them made of amber, wood, ivory, bamboo,
and various other materials.
Glass is not a native invention of China, but
came there as long ago as the first century of
this era in the wares which enterprising travellers
n the Asiatic provinces of the Roman Empire
carried from Egypt to Syria and to the Far East.
It can be readily imagined that the difficulty of
transport of this fragile material by land and sea
rendered it of great value when it safely reached
its ultimate destination, and it is not surprising
that it was accordingly classed with gold and
precious stones. But as far back as the fifth cen-
tury glass was certainly made in China, and since
then the art has been practised until a perfection
has been attained which not even the world
renowned Venetians have surpassed.
Its employment in the case of these bottles
probably does not date back more than two or
three centuries, but every variety will be found
amongst them. All the processes used in Europe
are illustrated in their manufacture, one of the
most remarkable being the superimposing of colours
over each other, and exposing these by cutting
away the various layers.
Of the illustrations here given No. io shows ruby
over frosted white—No. 9 glasses of half a dozen
colours over white. The design in each case
having been cut out of the upper layers, has been
polished until a surface has been obtained which
makes it hard to believe that it has not been
moulded on.
The imitation in glass of the texture of stones
is not the least of their successes. It is often so
remarkable as only to be capable of detection by
the test of temperature, To these may be added
the varieties known as avanturine, and all those
which have usually been regarded as exclusively
Venetian.
It is impossible within the limits of an article
such as this to treat of the bottles made of porce-
lain, for the history of that fabric dates from the
ninth century, and it is not impossible to obtain
snuff bottles which date back many hundred years.
Every variety of the art of ceramics is to be
found, from beautiful miniatures of renowned blue
and white (Figs. 6, 7 and 8) to delicate examples ot
the families verte and rose, as well as those where
splashed colour and a crackled surface is the form
of ornament. It is little wonder that where as
much trouble has been expended on the midgets
as on their large brethren, the large prices of the
latter are not altogether disproportionate to those
asked for the former.
Where variety is a feature in the manufacture ot
almost every example, it is invidious to single out
13