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Snuff and Snuff Bottles
Tobacco originated with the Indians
of North America and has a long history of over 2,000 years. Long
ago the Indians lived a hard life, often walking long distances
on foot or in carriages to look for food and water. During these
migrations they would smoke tobacco to make themselves forget
starvation and weariness. Sometimes they also used the tobacco
to treat diseases. The ancient Indians used to burn and smoke
tobacco in religious rites and regard tobacco as a noble and precious
gift.The Indians of ancient Maya in Mexico also frequently used
tobacco praying for a good harvest and prosperity in the coming
year. In 1492, Columbus discovered the new world, resulting in
the spread of American tobacco all over the world.
Snuff is a kind of pharmaceutical preparation which
the perfect ground tobacco powder is put into some rare medicinal
Herb's-musk, etc. and sealed them into the wax pills and then
staled for several or even dozens of years. Snuff has several
different kinds of colour, such as dark purple, deep yellow, pale
yellow and so on. It tastes mellow and sharp. It can make eyes
bright, refresh, exorcise epidemic disease and invigorate the
circulation of blood. It is said that in old France, Napoleon
was addicted to snuff and consumed seven pounds of snuff a month.
At the late 16th century tobacco was circulated from America,
Luzon to Fujian Province in China. And then the custom of tobacco-leave
smoking and snuffing was spread from the Philippines to Japan
by Portuguese and Spanish
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sailors, traders, missionaries.
Later Janpanese tobacco was spread to Northeast China through Korea
and sniffing became popular in the regions inhabbited by Man and
Meng minority people. At the same time, Russian businessmen took
tobacco, snuff and snuff boxes down to Northeast China and Inner-Mongolia.
After that snuff has been more and more popular in China.
After snuff was spread to China, Chinese people at first used
phials to hold snuff. And then they made use of all sorts of materials
and craftworks to improve the containers. These containers are called
"snuff bottles". The making of snuff bottles in China
has a history of over 400 years. Apart from practical usages, snuff
bottles also used to be regarded as precious gifts in international
contacts in the Qing Dynasty. The custom of sniffing and the love
for snuff bottles were recorded in archives as historical events.
During the time of the Qing
Dynasty the taking of snuff became popular throughout China and
was used at all levels of society from the Emperor to the common
people.
Snuff bottles made by precious materials could reflect the status
of their owners. The feudal nobles, led by the Emperor, looked
for precious materials from which to have craftsmen make snuff
bottles. When the house of He Shen, the most favoured minister
of Qianlong Emperor, was searched, people found thousands of snuff
bottles made of precious materials.
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There are various kinds of snuff
bottles. All precious stones and metals can be their materials.
Even the most common things such as the cores of fruits and roots
and stems of plants can be made into exquisite snuff bottles by
skilful handicraftsmen.
During the Qing Dynasty there came forth many famous snuff bottle
masters and workshops. For example, the master of moulded procelain
snuff bottles Wang Bingrong; the four famous inside painting artists
Zhou Leyuan, Ma Shaoxuan, Ding Erzhong and Ye Zhongsan; and the
renowned "Yuan Chia Pei" and "Hsin Chia Pei
", are all outstanding ones in the trade at that time.
After the early period of the
Repbulic of China, due to the continuous wars in China and the
decline of sniff taking, the facture of snuff bottles was interrupted
for more than half of a century. From the beginning of the 1970s,
snuff bottles have met a new ero of development in China. During
the recent years the facture of various kinds of snuff bottles
has been in an unprecedented prosperity in China. The most prominent
are inside-painted snuff bottles and a great variety of glass
snuff bottles. These two big categories have greatly exceeded
those of the Qing Dynasty in terms of quantity and quality. Excellent
craftsmen of snuff bottles can be found here and there and there
are scholars and collectors both home and abroad who make researches
on modern snuff bottles. There is also a "Snuff Bottle Association"
in China that devotes to promoting and developing this traditional
handicraft.
Chinese snuff bottles---wonderful scenaries within little spaces.
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