Qianlong's period
During Qianlong’s reign, the snuff bottles became more diversified than before in design and outline. There emerged not only some established shapes such as gourd-shaped, spherical, and egg-shaped styles, but also flower, animal as well as human-shaped ones. Colors also changed from monochromatic to vivid collections, such as pink, black, gold, dark red and so on.
The motifs used in this period almost always aimed to bring wealth, health, good luck, longevity, and even immortality to the owner of an artifact. They were often used by gift-bearers to express a subtle wish for the recipient.
However, the making and manufacturing of snuff bottles decreased with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, evident in the inferior material, color collocation and design of newer creations.
"Painted interior" bottles
Without a doubt, the class of bottle that arouses most interest in the non-collector is the painted interior bottle. These are glass bottles which have pictures and often calligraphy painted on the inside surface of the glass.
The earliest painted interior bottles are thought to have been made in the period between 1820 and 1830s, by then, the beauty of a snuff bottle was probably more important than its practical applications—and considering this—few would have been used for holding snuff. Painted interior bottles are still made today—expensively for collectors and inexpensively as souvenirs.
To make a painted interior bottle, painter must work on a polished surface inside through the mouth of a bottle. Fine pictures are painted. It looks magnificent and smooth and gains much admiration. In Europe a painted interior bottle is usually fairly expensive.
It is said that the art form first emerged sometime around the reigns of Qianlong and Jiaqing’s, so it has been around for about 200 years. One legend has it that an official went to Beijing for business in the later years of Qianlong’s reign and became addicted to snuff. When his business failed and money began to run out, he had to lodge in a poor temple. With no money to buy new snuff, he dug the last remnants of snuff from his bottle with a smoke-pick, leaving many marks in it. Later a Buddhist monk was inspired by the marks he made, and tried using a hook to scratch a picture of bamboo on the inside surface a transparent bottle. And thus the first painted interior snuff bottle was born.
Like other types of snuff bottles, the range of subject matter used on painted interior bottles is without limit. It includes scenery, fish, birds, poems, and even portraits. They are a testament to the skill and inventiveness of Chinese craftsmen.
By Yan Fei
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