The art of the Chinese snuff bottle goes on view July 15

HONOLULU—The Honolulu Academy of Arts presents Interior Landscapes: The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, on view July 15 to October 31, 2010. The exhibition of nearly 200 jewel-like bottles commemorates the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society’s annual convention in Honolulu during the month of October.

Snuff bottles are among the most sumptuous of Chinese decorative arts. Made in a wide variety of materials, including precious metals and semi-precious stones, the palm-size vessels dazzle with intricate painting, carving, enameling, and other techniques. The exhibition includes exceptionally rare early inside-painted bottles from the 19th century.

Most of the snuff bottles in the exhibition are on loan from Mr. Y.F. Yang, a local businessman and one of the world’s leading dealers and collectors of snuff bottles since the 1960s. The exhibition will also include snuff bottles that are part of an important collection donated to the Academy by Joanna Lau Sullivan.

The story of the snuff bottle begins in the Americas, the source of tobacco. Europeans were first exposed to the plant during Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage. Columbus and his crew saw the people of the New World inhaling powdered tobacco, or “snuff.” In the 16th and 17th centuries—Europe’s Age of Exploration—extensive maritime routes were established between Europe and Asia first by the Portuguese and Spanish, followed by the British and Dutch. This laid the foundations for a worldwide trade of spices from Southeast Asia, porcelains from China and Japan, and a wealth of other goods that would result in European colonization throughout Asia, the impact of which was felt well into the 20th century.

Europeans brought snuff with them to Asia. The substance, with many medicinal qualities attributed to it, quickly became popular. Although Europeans used snuff boxes for storage, the small ceramic medicine jarlets common in China at the time probably were adapted for snuff storage instead, and it is likely that these jarlets were the predecessors of the snuff bottles common in the 18th and 19th centuries. Over time, the jarlets were modified, becoming smaller with thinner walls and a narrower mouth, protected by a stopper with an attached ivory spatula.

The fate of snuff was intimately connected with the rise and fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911), growing in popularity as this dynasty reached its zenith in the 18th century, and declining with the fall of the dynasty in the early 20th century. Today, snuff bottles remain one of China’s most popular souvenirs.

In many cases the materials used to make snuff bottles reflect the political expansion of China during the Qing dynasty and the securing of trade routes. For example, Central Asian nephrite was a popular material for snuff bottles (as for other decorative arts), and the Qianlong Emperor’s (r. 1736-1795) military campaigns to secure control of nephrite-rich areas in Xinjiang initiated a golden age for bottles made from the finest white stone.

Similarly, the exhibition’s snuff bottles that are made of dark green jadeite from Myanmar are evidence of the development of trade between China and the south.  Snuff bottles in porcelain, agate, rock crystal, glass, lacquer, wood, and ivory are also on view, showing the remarkable range of rare, sometimes exotic, materials Chinese artists used.

For more information contact 808-532-8700 or go to www.honoluluacademy.org