Snuff bottles

China tradition · 5 examples · indicative market tier: $500–5k (accessible antique & fine living craft)

After powdered tobacco (snuff) became popular in China around the 17th century, snuff bottles (Chinese: 鼻煙壺; pinyin: bíyānhú) became a common means of storing and transporting the substance for use in lieu of European snuff-boxes. Although pipe smoking (either through long bamboo pipes or brass water pipes) remained the predominant method of consuming tobacco following its introduction to China in the mid-1500s, snuff entered use by the mid-to-late 1600s, with the earliest written mentions and surviving examples of snuff bottles dating to the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Us Wikipedia →

Types & examples

Where to buy

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