Chinese snuff bottle? Why does it look like this?

I see no reason to change my point of view.

 

I admire a man who sticks to his guns !

 

I didn't read all the replies so sorry if this repeats someone else's idea but given the color it must be lacquerware even though it isn't smooth. If you know how most lacquerware is made there are sometimes dozens of layers of various compounds each coat of which is supposed to be dried in a special humidity chamber (yeah, see I watched part of one video on the process and now I'm an expert, NOT!). Anyway what if the maker got rushed and didn't do the drying correctly, OR the buyer kept the bottle in his damp basement, OR the thing was in a house fire, and the lacquer was damaged. I'm betting that some such damage occurred.

 

Spring, my husband also conjectured that the rough surface was done to make it less slippery. It's not lacquer... would have been kind of cool if it were.

I looked at it more closely today and what I saw was interesting. The bottom is gray, as is the bottom of the inside of the neck. The top section inside the neck is a goldish-tan substance with a rough texture. Is that so the top it must have had originally would grip inside? Or could it be snuff?

Along the outer edge of the rim at the top, the surface is a shiny grayish-white with fine black or dark gray irregular lines. It looks a bit like what you see in Satsuma pieces.

The red glaze isn't the solid reddish-brown I thought it was. It has bits of red, gold, and silver iridescence throughout. And the black areas definitely look charred.

I wish I knew what it would have looked like if it weren't a misfit...

 

The body is stoneware, right? So, it could not be lacquer on the top.

 

Thought I'd give you all an update. I did post photos on the snuff bottle forum, and a forum member who had been a fire fighter in the past said he'd seen many ceramic items that looked like my bottle after they'd gone through a house fire. He said the iridescence in the surface is typical of what happens when glazes melt due to intense heat.

Another member, an administrator, thought the bottle is just odd enough that it may have some interest. Time will tell!

Thanks for everyone's help here.

 

Thought you all might like to know that the snuff bottle sold today... to someone in China!

That kind of surprised me, since I'd think people in China would only be interested in the finest examples.

 

or the most unusual....????

 

Could be...