Hong Kong collector: Discover the Remarkable Artistry of Chinese Snuff Bottles

Snuff: a remedy for stomach disorders, colds and headaches, and a possible antidote to snoring, or so it was thought in the 17th century when this type of ground tobacco became fashionable among the elite. Snuff could be snorted using a little spoon to stop the powder getting on your hands, and it was manufactured in its original aroma or perfumed with flavours including mint.

In England, in the cool, dry air, a day’s worth of snuff was kept in a handy little box, sometimes made of wood or horn, easy to carry about, with a larger box with small hinges kept on the table to top up or to offer to guests on arrival. But when snuff was brought to China by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, the humidity was a problem for this newfound pastime. How to avoid the warm air spoiling the snuff? Make a narrower opening with a stopper.  

Early snuff bottles were modelled on medicine bottles, but particularly under the rule of Qing Dynasty (1636 – 1911) emperor Qianlong, who ascended the throne in 1735, the snuff bottle not only had a practical application, it transcended into an art form. Imperial workshops were set up creating exquisite snuff bottles out of glass, jade, bamboo, ivory and other materials. As snuff took off, so did the competition to show off just how intricate and fine a snuff bottle could be. Legends, poetry, and auspicious symbols were carved, inlaid or painted – a painstaking legacy that means that despite the fact that snuff-taking largely died out as a hobby with the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, snuff bottles are still commissioned today.

Nearly 500 snuff bottles, showcasing the finest work of these imperial and folk workshop artists are on show at the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), a permanent donation from Josephine Sin, the widow of the late and passionate Hong Kong snuff bottle collector Christopher Sin, who, says his close friend and fellow collector Humphrey Hui, was a wu4 ci1 (壺痴) or “bottle maniac” who would go to auctions in Paris, London and New York. 

Snuffing out unique objects

Hui, who is in his early 90s, first got to know Sin in 1973. Sin had trained as a lawyer, later became a banker, and in 1989 both men were in New York for business. “At the time, Chris was collecting luxury watches, you know, Rolex, AP [Audemars Piguet],” says Hui from his Hong Kong home. Hui was already collecting snuff bottles and Sin’s interest was piqued. “I told him: it’s very easy, you go to the book store and buy the book by Bob Stevens, who resided in Japan and held the top collection in the world.” Stevens’ Collector’s Book of Snuff Bottles is itself a collector’s item these days. Having read the book, Sin soon outbid others to buy 20 snuff bottles at his first Sotheby’s auction and over time became a specialist.

“The collection itself is one of the most important private collections of snuff bottles in the world,” says Mandy Qiu, HKMoA assistant curator of fine art. The donation is now on show in the exhibition Art of Gifting: The Fuyun Xuan Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles. “The collection brings together every kind of Qing Dynasty crafting technology and techniques you can see from the exhibits, from the formation of glass to painting seals to the use of different kinds of materials, whether organic or man-made,” she explains.

While snuff began as a fashionable pastime for China’s nobility, by the 19th century it had spread to the lower classes. Snuff bottles were initially made out of glass in a workshop under the Imperial Household Department, but then widened out to other materials such as jade, minerals, ivory, coral, amber, and even coconut shell. Many of the designs were inspired by nature, with carvings of fruit, vegetables, animals and humans. 

Fine art for everyday objects

Despite their small size, their extraordinary artistry is truly impressive. The overhead lights bring out the hues of a rare pink rubellite tourmaline snuff bottle. Carved into the stone are magpies and plum blossoms. The artisans worked with some very hard materials, and making just one snuff bottle must have been a painstaking task, sculpting the bottle itself before hours of grinding out the stone and smoothing the inside. As well as containing the snuff with a little spoon attached to the stopper, snuff bottles would fit in the palm of the hand and were designed to be handled and enjoyable to touch. 

Since ancient times, pure jade has always been an object of admiration in China. Emperor Qianlong promoted jade carving, and the hard stone came in from Xinjiang and further west in Central Asia. “Jade ware in Islamic style was produced in regions such as Central Asia and were imported into China,” says Qiu. “These wares were greatly admired by the Qianlong Emperor and he named them Hindustan Jade Ware and they became fashionable among the upper class.”

The carved snuff bottles in jade, tourmaline, cinnabar lacquer and other materials in Sin’s collection are truly impressive to look at, but the developments and experiments in glass art under the Qianlong Emperor were also quite incredible. Much of it was very expensive to produce, it was also fickle and brittle, but the emperor was willing to spend. For example, there was aventurine glass, which originated in Venice, made by adding metal oxide at high temperature to the glass. “It was a complex production process,” says Qiu. “It wasn’t until the sixth year of the Qianlong reign (1735-1796) that the Imperial Glassware Factory was able to successfully create this aventurine glass in China, with the assistance of Western missionaries, of course.” Aventurine glass was precious and rare, so even fragments would be recycled. But how beautiful, sparkling against a darker background. 

There was also overlay glass — one colour overlaid on another — and twisted coloured glass. “Glass snuff bottles became popular due to their diverse, brilliant colours and the ease of mass production as well,” says Qiu. 

Then there was the extraordinary skill required for painting inside snuff bottles. This came later in the Qing dynasty and was invented by literati and artisans in folk workshops. Craftsmen would use glass, crystal or amber snuff bottles as the body, and then polish the inner walls with fine and hard grits. And then they would paint from inside the bottle using a special hook bamboo stick. It is believed that some of the artists painted while lying down to get the right angle. They were also painting backwards. “It takes enormous skills to do it,” says Qiu. “So the inside painting technique was frequently used to portray timeless themes, such as landscapes, birds and flowers, and also folk tales.”

The detail is breathtaking. Glass snuff bottles, just seven centimetres or so high, were decorated with the Chinese character for longevity (sau6 壽), ancient Chinese calligraphic scripts, figures from classic tales and other auspicious symbols, all in tiny brush strokes. The inside painters became famous among them Ding Erzhong, who is featured in the exhibition. On one snuff bottle, a hundred children in bright coloured dress are painted – abundant offspring, a sign of great blessing.

A lifelong passion

Hui collaborated with his old friend Christopher Sin on snuff bottle books and exhibitions. He laughs while recollecting how Sin flew from Hong Kong to Paris for just two nights to attend an auction in 1992. Hui joined him from London. But there was a problem: they arrived at their hotel only to discover that there was a public transport strike. How would they get to the auction? “We took the free shuttle from the hotel back to the airport and hired the last car,” says Hui. “We drove all the way to the city and I told my wife to find a parking space. And we bought around 20 snuff bottles between us!”

As well as collecting, Sin was a director of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and a district governor of the Hong Kong Lions Club. He died in 2010.  “Maybe a month before his passing, he called me from the hospital,” recalls Hui. “‘Humphrey, you got me into snuff bottles, shouldn’t you catalogue them?’” Hui obliged.

In a glass case in the exhibition, there are seven snuff bottles displayed – glass with painted enamel. And in the middle is a beauty, a yellow glass snuff bottle shaped as a double gourd with Chinese roses and begonias painted in enamel.  It was produced by the imperial workshop and has Qianlong’s four-character reign mark. Apparently Christopher Sin was very fond of this piece, so in the months before he died, while lying in his hospital bed, he made sure he acquired it.

All photos are courtesy of HKMoA

For more information visit Art of Gifting: The Fuyun Xuan Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles.
Please check HKMoA’s webpage for any update on dates and opening hours.