Featured Chinese Snuff Bottles, cameo, carved, and.....

Here is an inside painted bottle made in the late 1980s by a student at the Technical and Artistic Institute of Shantou. For the potties, Shantou was formerly called Swatow.
It is wonderful that they teach this art in colleges in China.
The stopper is jade, all the TAIS bottles I've seen, have these high stoppers and bright inside gilding.
7.8cm/3"high, including stopper, and the detail is amazing.

 

Is the foot/pedestal also distinctive, along with the stopper? Have never seen one quite like it.

 

Wonderful color on this one too, although 'statement' is a good word for the other. Is Pixiu a bit of a trickster?

 

Could be, I don't remember, just the stopper because I always thought it too high. But if that is a characteristic of the TAIS bottles, then high it must be.

I think he is gathering riches there, deparately trying to get the coins into the bag. The coins may have slipped out. Pixiu protects money, wealth, riches.
But a lot of snuff bottles have a bit of humour, like many Japanese netsuke.

 

I was going to mention that my favorite netsuke/ojime have that touch of humor. Money toads make me laugh too.

 

The pedestal on this bottle is unique and appealing. I have one with similar color, the gold on gold glass design, inside painted bottle. Same jade cap. Different base, and I don't think the cap is quite as tall. Mine was made by the Peach River Painting Studio, sold at the Canton Fair in 1974. I am resting from a medical procedure. As soon as I can stay up a while, I will photograph and post this bottle.

Thank you for posting these pictures. Cheering me up.

 

Very unique, the ingenuity and creativity of mankind (and womankind) never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for sharing.

 

Get well soon, kaja. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your bottles, but please take your time.
Some dragons for strength.
'Qing jade', I always love that green and white combination, which was also an Art Deco favourite:


This one is only a few years old, but I liked it, so it was allowed to join the others. Brown jade:

 

A video of An Hong, the Chinese lady who lives in the Netherlands and does inside painting. As you can see, she is not lying down while painting, but does use special brushes, which she makes herself.
This one is in English:


This is her site. In Dutch, but art is a language in itself:
http://www.chineseschilderkunst.nl/over anhong.html

 

Awesome......... an understatement for sure.

 

Thank you. Fascinating.

 

Really lovely collection

 

Hi, I will try to post more of my snuff bottle collection. This is one of my favorite. Inside painted bottle, tiger. The bottle was sold as glass, but it feels cool like quartz, and will not scratch

 

This is the Peach River Bottle sold in Canton in 1974. This was meant to be a cabinet bottle only, so it looks pristine.

 

They are beautiful, kaja.
I always love those inside painted tiger bottles, the movement is captured so beautifully. I have a few myself.
You're right, the second bottle looks like my Shantou art college bottle. There must be a connection.
I think inside painted bottles are mostly cabinet bottles, the oils from tobacco and herbs eat away at the paint. They only started making them in the mid 19th century, when many bottles were made as presentation pieces anyway. Qianlong started the fashion for snuff bottle presentation and collection in the 18th century. He presented many courtiers with wonderful bottles and started the impressive Imperial collection. An inspiration for many to started collecting.

 

May I ask, how long have you been collecting? Your bottles are outstanding and you have so much knowledge. How did you begin collecting snuff bottles?

 

@kaja (and AJ) Could you look as this thread and express an opinion. Is the glaze intentional, or a kiln accident?
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/chinese-snuff-bottle-why-does-it-look-like-this.6746/#post-93744

 

Here are some more Peach River Studio pieces: http://snuffbottlecollector.com/_antique/peach_river/peach_river_0.htm

 

THAT video was FASCINATING!!!!!! Thank you for posting AJ!!!! Her work is AMAZING!!!!!!

 

Intentional but rare, I've seen it before. The theory that handling would smoothen the surface only works for those bottles that were handled a lot. Many bottles were presentation and collection pieces, even in the 18th century. Unusual glazes were something to collect and keep in a cabinet to be admired.