Object details
Object number
U18e65.a-b
Creator(s)
Chinese
Title
Snuff Bottle
Date
1796-1820
Medium
Molded, carved, and enameled porcelain
Dimensions
8.5 x 6.4 x 2.8 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 1/8 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in red (bottom): 嘉慶年制 Jiaqing nian zhi [made during the reign of Jiaqing Emperor]
Provenance
Possibly purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in Peking [Beijing] China, 26 September 1883.
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.
Bibliography
Yasuko 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.
Gallery
Little Salon
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