In order to give the general public an opportunity to get in touch with different forms of art from their ancestors, the National Museum of History held the exhibition "Another World in Hand--The Selection of Snuff Bottles" from July 20 to Sept 2. The pieces on display were from the collection of the Chinese Culture and Fine Arts Association.
"The aesthetic practices of daily life are often emphasized in the activities organized by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan, and we can see our ancestors had already integrated aesthetic experiences into their lives," Chen Yung-cheng, a researcher in the Education Department of NMH, said Aug. 10. "The exhibition aims to motivate people to examine the quality of their cultural life and think about the legacies we can leave to our children."
The 265 snuff bottles exhibited were from four collectors, according to the Chinese Culture and Fine Arts Association. "This opening up of the collection to share with like-minded art lovers is merely an effort to give something back," CCFAA Chairman Hong San-xiung stated in the preface of the program. "We hope that everyone will take up the torch of the previous generation and continue the work of cherishing cultural treasures, protecting culture and passing on the gem of civilization."
Chen explained that the making of snuff bottles came into practice during the Ching dynasty (1644-1912). In the beginning, snuff bottles were created for practical use as containers for snuff powder. As the designs became more and more intricate, many people came to regard them as works of art. Even in modern times, snuff bottles represent refined craftsmanship and are commonly collected by people as valuable antiques.
Snuff came to China during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) in the Ching dynasty. The limited imports of snuff made it a valuable commodity, so it was reserved for royalty. The nicotine contained in snuff could both invigorate and relax the body, so it was used for therapeutic purposes, to treat conditions such as rhinitis and other nasal diseases.
When snuff was first imported from European countries, it was kept in square boxes to keep out moisture in the air. The seals of the boxes were not adequate, though. Chen explained that humidity was the most serious problem in the storage of snuff. People sometimes needed to regrind the powder to get rid of the absorbed moisture, consuming extra time and effort. As a result, the inconveniences inspired people to improve the design of snuff containers.
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), there were scores of craftsmen working in the Forbidden City in Beijing. They were distinguished artisans from different provinces of China, and some of them were assigned to make snuff bottles. They discovered that a bottle that narrowed at the top provided a better seal. To make it easy for people to take out snuff, they attached a tiny spoon to the cap.
Chen said people usually used the spoon to scoop out a little bit of snuff and put it on the finger to inhale it. The small size of the snuff bottles enabled people to easily fit them into pockets. Most of the bottles were palm-sized, and some people liked to fondle them or store them in their long sleeves. Some men even wore them below the waist as a decoration, so the snuff bottles were always next to the body.
The bottles were designed only for practical use at first. Then the number of snuff bottles increased, leading people to demand high quality and new designs. "The craftsman must be a good sculptor. Imagine the difficulty of carving on such a small area," said Chen.
The artists could make bottles from different materials, such as jade, glass, ceramics and other materials. From a utilitarian perspective, jade was stable and would not absorb the odor of the snuff easily, said Chen. The bottles at the exhibition were arranged by color, with white, green, yellow and black jades on display.
The popular themes in snuff-bottle designs were animals that symbolized luck in Han Chinese culture. For instance, cats and butterflies are depicted playing together because the pronunciations of the words "mao" for cat and "die" for butterflies in Mandarin was similar to the expression "mao die jhih nian," which refers to people over the age of eighty and is often used to wish elders a long life. Animals like pigs, deer and horses were also used as talismans to attract wealth, Chen said, pointing at the patterns on the jade bottles.
Different from the natural color of the jade bottles, glass snuff bottles are colored with different dyes to create a splendid appearance. At first, artisans only made glass snuff bottles of a single color, such as red or yellow. Later, they developed techniques to make bottles with multiple colors.
Nevertheless, laying colors on a glass bottle was never easy, Chen said. The artisan added colors to the bottle at the same time as he blew the glass, a complex balancing act. Due to different coefficients of the expansion of differently colored glasses, the cooling conditions varied. If the materials could not contract at the same rate, the bottles would be too fragile after they cooled down. The more colors the bottle had, the more difficult it was to ensure uniform contraction.
He made an example of a six-color glass snuff bottle that had nine dragons on top, saying that the animals were formed at the same time the body of the bottle was made, not attached to the bottle after it was made. In addition, craftsmen had to further polish it to make the surface shiny.
Like the glass bottles, the metal ones also had fancy colors and designs. The golden enamel on several bronze bottles enhanced their beauty, as seen in one extremely rare miniature cloisonne enamel snuff bottle. In comparison, the carvings and floral designs on the brown wooden bottles have a traditional look.
For one of the snuff bottles, an artisan used a small gourd and simply added a cap. The organic material preserves the warm feel of wooden bottles, but it is likely to absorb the smell of the tobacco. Bronze bottles might give a metallic flavor to the contents stored inside. Therefore, the making of snuff bottles stressed not only portability and artistic design but also the quality of materials.
Chen played with the phrase "bie you dong tian," which means a completely different world. "Playing with a snuff bottle is like having another miniature world in your hands," he said. Snuff bottles were extremely popular presents at that time, even valuable enough to use as a bribe in order to get a high official position, he joked.
Looking at the snuff bottles is like taking a look into lifestyles in the distant past. Although people nowadays do not use snuff for medical treatment, nor do they take snuff for relaxation, the artistry of snuff bottles is still universally recognized. The artifacts demonstrate how people enjoy art and illustrate the cultural life of that time.
Write to Sandra Shih at sandrashih@mail.gio.gov.tw