Snuff Bottle
maker
Unknown
Dateearly 19th century
Place MadeChina, East Asia
MediumSmoky quartz with rutile crystals
Dimensionsheight 8 cm (3 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsVessels
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberU18e60.a-b
eMuseum ID723341
Previous Number492.9
Previous NumberU18e60
Previous NumberU18e55.9
EmbARK ObjectID15420
TMS Source ID3988
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.
The artisan who made this bottle used a variety of smoky quartz with inclusions of the needle-shaped crystals of the mineral rutile, sometimes called Venus-hair stone. Isabella Stewart Gardner may have purchased it on her travels in China in 1883.
BibliographyNotesYasuko Horioka. "Chinese Snuff Bottles." Fenway Court (1971), pp. 28-29, 31, fig. 9. (as Chinese, dated early 19th century)
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 30, 33-34, no. 10i.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 446-47, fig. 12.
Victoria Kitirattragarn, “Mesmerizing and Masterful Miniatures: History and Treatment of Snuff Bottles,” Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 September 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/mesmerizing-and-masterful-miniatures-history-and-treatment-snuff-bottles
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 30, 33-34, no. 10i.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 446-47, fig. 12.
Victoria Kitirattragarn, “Mesmerizing and Masterful Miniatures: History and Treatment of Snuff Bottles,” Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 September 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/mesmerizing-and-masterful-miniatures-history-and-treatment-snuff-bottles
ProvenanceNotesPossibly purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in Peking (Beijing), 26 September 1883.
