Chinese
Snuff Bottle, 1796-1820
Porcelain, glass, and silver, 8.3 x 3.8 x 2.5 cm (3 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 1 in.)
This off-white porcelain urn-shaped snuff bottle is intricately carved with scrolls, and a dragon with a serpentine body. The neck of this bottle has a carved row of heart shapes and a carved row of Greek key design. This bottle sits atop a dark plain base and has a light green stopper at the top.
Little Salon
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.This reticulated porcelain bottle is decorated with a dragon on one side and a phoenix among clouds on the other. It may be an Imperial commission made in the 1800s, around the end of the Jiaqing emperor’s reign (1796-1820). Isabella Stewart Gardner may have purchased it on her travels in China in 1883.