Snuff Bottle

A snuff bottle refers to a container for containing snuff, which is small enough to be held in the hand and easy to carry. Snuff is a kind of tobacco product, originally from the western world, and was introduced to China from Europe in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and then processed and transformed into a powdered herb. Smoking snuff not only had the effect of brightening the eyes and avoiding epidemics, but also became fashionable in all classes. And it was quickly incorporated into the Chinese art style, and it developed a variety of ingenious snuff bottles that shone in the aesthetic craftsmanship of the Qing dynasty, becoming one of the important symbols of Qing art.
Made of porcelain, copper, ivory, jade, onyx, amber and other materials, the snuff bottle uses techniques such as carved porcelain and internal painting, drawing on the advantages of a variety of techniques both inside and outside the region and is regarded as a precious cultural object and enjoys a high reputation both at home and abroad.
Nowadays, people's habit of smoking snuff is almost extinct, but snuff bottles have been handed down as a kind of fine artwork. It is known as "a pocket-sized work of art that combines the best of various crafts from different countries".