Snuff Bottle
maker
Unknown
Date1796-1820
Place MadeChina, East Asia
MediumMolded, carved, and enameled porcelain
Dimensions8.5 x 6.4 x 2.8 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsVessels
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberU18e65.a-b
eMuseum ID723618
Previous NumberU18e55.2
Previous NumberU18e65
Previous Number492.2
EmbARK ObjectID15413
TMS Source ID3981
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb Commentary
This bottle was created to hold snuff—a flavored powdered tobacco inhaled through the nose. Snuff—introduced to China by European missionaries and merchants—was widely used in the 1800s. Made from a variety of materials and sometimes elaborately decorated, Chinese snuff bottles have an airtight stopper to protect against humidity and a small scoop for removing the tobacco.
A man on horseback pursues another on a riverbank, while a man in yellow robes watches the scene from a boat. This bottle is inscribed on its base and may have been made at the end of the Jiaqing Emperor’s reign (1796-1820). Isabella Stewart Gardner may have purchased it on her travels in China in 1883.
BibliographyNotesYasuko Horioka. "Chinese Snuff Bottles." Fenway Court (1971), pp. 28-30, fig. 2. (as Chinese, Chai-ch'ing period (1796-1820))
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), 30-32, no. 10b.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 206, 446-47, fig. 4.
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), 30-32, no. 10b.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 206, 446-47, fig. 4.
MarksNotesInscribed in red (bottom): 嘉慶年制 Jiaqing nian zhi [made during the reign of Jiaqing Emperor]
ProvenanceNotesPossibly purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in Peking [Beijing] China, 26 September 1883.
