Chinese Snuff Bottles

Dipping snuff is a habit people don't indulge in any more. But the traditional Chinese folk art of painting the inside of snuff bottles is alive and well

at your friendly Beijing curio shop. The bottle is carved on the outside and painted on the inside, and would make a lovely addition to your

collection.

Snuff made its way via the old Silk Road. As early as 1542, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci presented snuff bottles to the Emperor of Ming

Dynasty. By the time Qianlong came to power during the Qing Dynasty, dipping the spice-powered tobacco had become popular at court and

among society's nobles. So that China's lords ladies could dip their snuff in style, artisans were engaged to decorate the bottles. Soon snuff bottle

decorators were competing with each other.

Out of this chance encounter snuff bottle painting was born. The monk was inspired by what he had seen to devise a way to do on purpose what

the petty official had done by accident. Using a slender piece of bamboo curved at the head and soaked with ink, the monk spend hours painting

scenes inside the bottles. Perhaps this is true, and perhaps not, but snuff bottle painting began. It certainly caught the fancy of the era's rich and

famous, and fitted right into their lifestyles.