It was a unique symbol of the early-stage intercourse between China and the West-a definitive product of the convergence of Western technology and the Chinese elitist culture. But with the passing of Chinese empire, the little snuff bottle fell into the historical shadow to become a container only for reminiscences. Though, compared to most other Chinese antiquities, the snuff bottle has a relatively short history, today it is larger than life, an object for collection at a price-a very good price—in the international antique market.
Exquisite as they may individually be for enamored collectors, the snuff bottles offer quotients of enchantment that reach well beyond their tangible forms. A noted collector and expert, Bob C. Stevens, discerned an experience of spiritual sublimation:
"True lovers of snuff bottles, I like to think, learn to feel with the eyes, see with the hands, and taste with the mind. As one does in Zen meditation, make your mind blank. And then sometimes, in a manner somewhat like that of a clairvoyant with a ouija board or of a person at peace through meditation, you find that a communication begins between yourself and the bottles."
The role played by snuff bottle in Chinese imperial history can best be traced if, first of all, we know something about the stuff called snuff, which originated in 17th Century Europe, where high society soon preferred it to smoking tobacco.
Snuff is tobacco, ground to a fine powder. And the manner of its use in times past, in the contemporary viewpoints, endowed it with a special tinge of grace and distinction.
Smoking, itself, was condemned at the time as offensive. And snuff sniffing, accordingly, became accepted social behavior. Indeed, when performed properly, the consequent sneeze constituted a demonstration of the social graces. Naturally, the explicit approval of both state and church contributed to its popularity.
The exact time of the introduction of snuff to China cannot be pinpointed. But, according to the Ching Dynasty scholar and calligrapher Chao Chi-chien, Father Matteo Ricci was the first European to introduce snuff in the form of a royal gift—to Emperor Shentzung (1573-1619), reportedly in the 9th year of the Emperor's reign; among the gifts Ricci presented was a snuff box.
A contradictory element in the historical record is evidence indicating that not until the 29th year of Emperor Shentzung's reign, was Father Ricci allowed to enter the Imperial City to seek an audience with the Emperor. Perhap Chao was mistaken. Also, in 1639, another Jesuit priest, Father Franciscus Sambiaso, was given the privilege of seeking an audience with the Emperor. Yet in the list of his gifts, no traces of either snuff or snuff boxes could be found.
The first time the word "snuff" (initially translated in Chinese) appeared in official Chinese documents was in the year 1684, when Emperor Kanghsi made his first trip to the southern part of China. Arriving at Nanking, the Emperor gave audience to the Jesuit priests Joannes Cabiami and Joannes Valat. Among four gifts presented by the priests, Kanghsi acknowledged, with pleasure, the receipt of snuff, while returning the other three on the grounds that they were too "rare" to be thus given away.
As for the snuff bottles, their's is another story: we do not have to trace origins in the West.
After the Chinese took to the use of snuff, they sought ways to keep it that would better preserve its aroma and flavor. Fortunately for today's collectors, the Western snuff boxes proved inadequate in the humid weather of the Orient, and Chinese designers gave the then unique snuff bottle to the artistic and diplomatic worlds.
Actually, at first, snuff bottles were not produced for the purpose of containing snuff. They evolved from the small medicine bottles of the Ming Dynasty. And not merely by coincidence: people of the Ming and Ching Dynasties also considered snuff a medicine, effective for toothaches and for easing such respiratory problems as colds, coughs, and asthma; many also believed snuff to be a digestive aid, and good for the appetite (none of which merits have, subsequently, been medically proved). The only thing we can be sure about is that snuff provided at least psychological relief for those people enjoying too much of the good life and, perhaps, overly concerned about themselves.
In any case, the snuff bottle soon became an object of artistic focus in China, owing to the patronage of several addicted Ching emperors, Kanghsi among them. Since he was, more importantly, an enthusiastic patron of the arts, the snuff bottle benefited.
Beginning in the 32nd year of Kanghsi's reign (1693), fourteen workshops established within the Forbidden City recruited skilled artisans from all over the country to cultivate various art forms.
By the reigns of Emperors Yungcheng (1723-1735) and Chienlung (1736-1796), snuff had increased its popularity among the middle and upper classes, and snuff bottles were in great demand. Not only did emperors and princes take pride in various delicate designs, but the snuff bottle now became social jewelry among the extended circles of courtiers and officials.
A fine snuff bottle could be a handy conversation piece for new acquaintances or, according to its value, help smooth the way for promotion or special favor. On the other hand, emperors often used them as tokens of patronage. In the vast Chinese Empire, politics was played in a most subtle way. Many things were not articulated openly, but had to be sniffed out. Small gifts such as snuff bottles from the emperor or other higher officials of the realm could have great meaning.
Snuff bottles also played a role on the diplomatic scene. The reigns of Emperors Kanghsi, Yungcheng, and Chienlung spanned the prime years of the Ching Dynasty. Foreign missions arriving in China occasioned exchanges of presents-snuff, snuff boxes, and snuff bottles often among them. When Peter the Great of Russia sent ministers to China, for example, Emperor Kanghsi gave each of them a beautifully enameled snuff bottle. Obviously, he took great pride in them. Also, it was recorded that in the 3rd year of the reign of Emperor Yungcheng (1725), Pope Benedictus sent him many agate and glass snuff boxes.
In much the manner as in Europe, then, during the 17th Century snuff sniffing became one of the social graces of China. When friends met on the street or on social occasions, the first order of business was to take their snuff bottles from pockets in the long, loose sleeves of their robes-a most snug place for storing small items-and offer a pinch. The ritual would be concluded by the receiver in a showing of genuine appreciation for the quality of the gift.
Although imperial patronage has not been necessarily favorable to the cultivation of every form of art, in the case of snuff bottles, artists and artisans were accorded political protections that assured their productivity.
During the reign of Emperor Chienlung, for example, the initial sketch of a painting had first to be approved by the Court before it could be painted. In this situation, the direct patronage of the Emperor insured a more secure, easy environment for the creation of art.
A memorial to Yungcheng, on March 6 of the year 1731, specifically indicates the Emperor's pleasure with a swallow motif on an enamel snuff bottle. Inquiring as to the responsible person, he directed the distribution of 120 ounces of silver—5-20 ounces each—to all involved, including several eunuchs and artisans. Today, the worth of a very fine Ching enamel snuff bottle may reach tens of thousands of dollars.
With advantages come disadvantages. In time, if the skilled artisans of a country are put under imperial supervision to please just one man, it is only natural that their art will become more and more delicate and refined until it begins to lose contact with reality. The vitality of art's life force gives way gradually to a certain serenity and contentment, then to apathy.
In corroboration, one has only to inspect developing art motifs presented on the tiny snuff bottles. A great portion can be categorized under the heading of "aspirations for good fortune"—for wealth, fertility, immortality, longevity, etc. Among other often-used themes are the Eight Immortals and Three Star-Gods of Taoism, the dragon-emblem of Imperial power, the phoenix and hundred children symbols of fertility, the unicorn and tortoise for longevity, and fish for wealth-and abundance.
Although it would be inaccurate to say that these spring only from the privileges of the upper class, the fact of artistic devotion to such subjects reminds us that snuff bottles are an art form never meant for the appreciation of commoners. On the contrary, from the very beginning, they were designed with the tastes and interests of emperors, courtiers, and secondary officials in mind.
Toward the end of the 1800s, we find artists expanding the subject matter for snuff bottle illustrations with adaptations from Pu Sung-ling's Liao Chai Chih I (Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio), an anthology that provides a vivid picture of the ordinary, end-of-the-century Chinese citizen's view of life.
In her research, Virginia Mead has identified decorations on 24 snuff bottles with illustrations from an edition of Pu's Liao Chai Chih I, created for Emperor Chienlung. She also identified five additional bottle themes via titles inscribed inside the snuff bottles. The first artist to reflect Liao Chai Chih I, according to Mead, was Yen Chung-san; his 1895 rendition of Hsi Hu Chu was the model for a family tradition; it was copied by his descendants well into more recent times.
Of all the snuff bottles, enameled bottles are probably the most "curious," since the enameling techniques came from the West, and along with them, influences of Western art.
Enameling was first introduced to China during the Yuan Dynasty as a result of cultural interactions between China and the Near East, most probably through traders, missionaries, or traveling craftsmen.
The more advanced technique of picture-painting on the enamel, however, came at a much later date, at the beginning of the 18th Century, during Kanghsi's reign. Such painted enamel appeared simultaneously in Canton and Peking, and with the patronage of the Emperor, rapidly developed.
Kanghsi was especially taken with 15th Century enamels from the Flanders area. Toward the latter years of his 6o-year reign, the Jusuit priest Jean Baptiste Cravereau was sent to Peking to teach the technique to Chinese artisans. In letters to their superiors in Rome, the priests mentioned a need for more such enameling masters to come to China, anti, as it turned out, this medium-much neglected by Western artists after its 16th and 17th Century peaks-found new and influential admirers in the Orient.
One of the frequent characteristics of snuff bottles produced during Chienlung's reign is the mixing of Chinese themes with Western scenery and portraits, producing an exotic, even delightful effect.
Jesuit priests such as Fathers Gastiglione and Attiret were consigned by the Emperor to do sketches for artisans to paint on enamel snuff bottles and, in the process, introduced the Western "solid perspective" technique to China.
Nowadays, among the great rarities on the international antique market are snuff bottles from Yi-hsing, on the western shore of Lake Tai Hu, Kiangsu Province, also famous for its teaware.
It may seem peculiar to some people that with all the snuff bottles of jade, ivory, glass, enamel, and precious stones, that snuff bottles of clay should be so valued. And actually, in the opinions of many experts, Yu-hsing snuff bottles leave much to be desired in the way of artistic designs and glazes. The Yi-hsing bottle, like the teaware, initially gained fame for excellence in preserving the aroma and flavor of its contents. And as time passed, the law of supply and demand assured that the bottles would be highly valued, especially by those collectors much taken by the price fluctuations of the antique market.