Chinese Snuff Bottles

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Among the most beautiful of the world's domestic art forms are Chinese snuff bottles, miniature bottle-shaped flasks, often of astounding intricacy and tactile appeal, which were made for court and, subsequently, popular use during the Qing Dynasty. Within the last twenty years, snuff bottleshave been collected by an increasingly wide circle of enthusiasts. While recent research has led to a number of discussions of the topic, the collecting of snuff bottles remains an area within which the unwary may be trapped, particularly since the spectacular rise in value of these small items hasspurred the skilled faker.Illustrated with twenty-four full-color and sixteen black-and-white plates, this book serves as a useful and entertaining introduction to the collecting of snuff bottles. After tracing the history of snuff in Chinese culture, Robert Kleiner surveys the many styles of snuff bottles, dividingthem by materials and methods of decoration used.