Present situation of traditional snuff bottle technology

Snuff entered the court with Matteo Ricci, a missionary, in Wanli, and quickly became popular in the court, and was introduced to the people from the court. The tool for holding snuff in this period was the snuff bottle. In the Qing Dynasty, because the ruling class was a direct ethnic group, there was a special demand for tools for holding snuff, so snuff bottles became the main tools for holding snuff. Judging from the handed down snuff bottles, there are many techniques used, including six doors of metal, pearl, jade, stone, wood and porcelain, and the small ones, such as knuckles, are exquisite, exquisite and overlapping in color. Mr. Ma Modu, a famous folk collector, once said that the history of snuff bottles is a history of Qing dynasty crafts. Nested snuff bottles metal snuff bottles after the Qing Dynasty, because Manchu is a nation on horseback, and the snuff bottles used in the Ming Dynasty are very inconvenient to use immediately, the big ones are not easy to open, and the small ones are easy to knock over. So the convenient snuff bottle appeared immediately, small and flat, very convenient to carry. Because there were not many people who liked snuff in the early Qing Dynasty, the containers for snuff were not particular. After Emperor Kangxi came into contact with snuff, he gradually became addicted to snuff, and the custom of smoking snuff began to rise from the Kangxi Dynasty. In the 23rd year of Kangxi, the sea ban was opened, and the bronze tire painted enamel was introduced to China, which was loved by Emperor Kangxi, and then the metal tire painted enamel snuff bottle appeared. During the Yongzheng period, the bronze tire enamel snuff bottles attached great importance to the royal bronze tire enamel snuff bottles, ordered mass production, encouraged domestic enamel craftsmen to innovate in many ways, and often took time to give directions on the styles, patterns and even collections of enamel snuff bottles. During this period, a large number of new styles of snuff bottles appeared. On the basis of Kangxi and Yongzheng craft, the snuff bottle craft in Qianlong period was not only widely used and diverse in shape, but also exquisite in skill and beautiful in shape. Among these various and huge snuff bottles, gold tires, silver tires, copper tires and glass tires emerged in large numbers at this time, among which metal tires were considered as big heads. The royal painted enamel snuff bottle with metal tire in Qianlong period has a strong western style, which constitutes an important artistic feature of painted enamel snuff bottle in this period. The decorative patterns of porcelain snuff bottles painted with bronze tires went through three stages: initial creation, development and maturity in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. During the Kangxi period, the porcelain industry just began to develop rapidly. At the urging of Emperor Kangxi, craftsmen used their intelligence to design and fire porcelain snuff bottles. The decorative patterns of porcelain snuff bottles in this period mainly include plant patterns, animal patterns and landscape figures. The porcelain tire snuff bottle made in Kangxi period is simple and elegant in shape, with crystal clear glaze and a slight cyan color, but the glaze color is relatively simple, mainly blue and white. During the Yongzheng period of pastel snuff bottles, the painting techniques of porcelain tire snuff bottles became more and more mature, and the glaze was mostly smooth and delicate, and some new styles appeared. However, there are not many snuff bottles handed down during this period, and the main varieties are blue and white, azure glaze and enamel. In addition to traditional animal and plant patterns, there are brocade patterns, real dragon patterns, precious flower patterns and other patterns. During Qianlong period, the decorative painting of porcelain tire snuff bottle entered its heyday, and during Yongzheng period, the decoration changed from simple to sparse to complicated and gorgeous, which was a mature stage of decoration development. The bionic porcelain with high technical requirements and great difficulty in production is made vividly. Blue and white snuff bottles are mainly pastels, while blue and white and underglaze red are rare. The decorative themes of porcelain fetal snuff bottles in Qianlong period are rich and varied, with plant patterns, animal patterns, scenery patterns and figure patterns as the main themes. The composition pays attention to symmetrical and balanced layout, with strong color contrast, gorgeous colors and great decoration. Because of the low cost of porcelain snuff bottles, most people can afford them, so a large number of porcelain snuff bottles were fired from Kangxi to the Republic of China. The production of pastel snuff bottle jade snuff bottle jade has a long history in China, and it has been very superb in the Qing Dynasty. Before Qianlong, the jade snuff bottle was rough. In order to remove the defects of jade, various patterns are cut out. After Qianlong, due to the opening of the Jade Road in Xinjiang, high-quality jade entered the Central Plains, and jade snuff bottles were mostly plain, which reflected the beauty of jade itself. Agate snuff bottles are rich in color, so it can be interesting to use the original color of agate. There are jade belt agate snuff bottles with white lines in the middle, and aquatic agate with coral texture. We also need snuff bottles made of amber, beeswax, turquoise, crystal, tourmaline and lapis lazuli. Extraordinary glass snuff bottle Glass snuff bottle entered China in Kangxi period. Emperor Kangxi ordered the imperial court to make glass snuff bottles as gifts for courtiers to show their kindness, which greatly promoted the development of snuff bottles. There are two kinds of glass snuff bottles, one is nested snuff bottles, and the other is painted snuff bottles. Nested snuff bottle is to put more than one color glass on the tire, and then carve the colored glass into a pattern. There is also semi-dissolved glass that is directly used to make patterns on tires. Because the glass surface of the painted snuff bottle is smooth, it is not easy to color. During the Jiaqing period, it was invented to mix small steel balls with quartz sand, pour water into the snuff bottle, shake it evenly, and polish the inner wall of the snuff bottle, so that pigments and ink can be attached to the inner wall more easily. Then bend the bamboo pen into the snuff bottle and draw in the opposite direction on its inner wall. Internal painting snuff bottle is the latest snuff bottle technology. As far as snuff bottle painting art is concerned, its composition, choice of subject matter and application of internal painting techniques also follow the artistic style of China's painting and calligraphy. The early inner painting art basically inherited the panoramic composition of China's landscape paintings. The painting method of inner painting in the middle and late period combines the essence of landscape painting in Song, Yuan and Mingshan. The brushwork of Tang Yin, a painter in the Tang Dynasty, was integrated into figure painting, and his theme changed from early landscape painting to folk allusions, auspicious patterns and portraits. The development of glass snuff bottles in Qing Dynasty was a process from small to large. The early snuff bottles were smaller and fewer. With the passage of time, people use more and more snuff bottles, and the volume of snuff bottles is getting bigger and bigger. After the founding of New China, with the prevalence of cigarettes, rhinitis pot gradually disappeared on the historical stage. Reference: Research on the Decoration of Three Generations of Porcelain Snuff Bottles in Qing Dynasty Reference: Historical evolution of enamel snuff bottles made by the Palace Museum. Unless otherwise specified, all the pictures used in this article are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact the author to delete it. Thank you! 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