Snuff bottle, 1800-1850

Snuff is powdered tobacco, usually blended with aromatic herbs or spices. The habit of snuff-taking spread to China from the West during the 17th century and became established in the 18th century. People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. By the 20th century these bottles had become collectors' items, owing to the great variety of materials and decorative techniques used in their production.

The bottle is a small oblong flattened flask form with shoulders sloping up to a short cylindrical neck. It is made of chalcedony, grey with dark brown inclusions. The stopper is of gilded metal with small pieces of purple kingfisher feather inset and floral motifs radiating from the centre. The decoration depicts a galloping horseman holding a banner in one hand; the banner bears the character ling. The foot has an indentation underneath.

This bottle is an excellent example of the use of inclusions in a 'silhouette' technique, producing vivid and expressive pictorial decoration. The decoration may represent the phrase Ma shang ping an meaning 'Immediate peace' or 'Immediate report that all is well' (Zhongguo Jixiang Tu'an, [Chinese auspicious emblems], (reprint of 1927 edition published in Tianjin, Gu Ting Shu Shu, 1978).