Pair of Hand-Painted Chinese Snuff Bottles – Agate Caps
€71.88
Hand-painted Chinese snuff bottles sold as a pair, each approximately 7 cm tall in blown glass with interior painting applied through the neck and individual agate stoppers, arriving with two fitted wooden stands in a traditional gift box. Produced in the Hengshui school tradition of Hebei Province, these bottles represent one of the most technically demanding art forms in Chinese decorative craft.
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Description
Hand-painted Chinese snuff bottles, sold as a pair, are among the most technically demanding objects in Chinese decorative art. Each blown-glass bottle is painted entirely on the interior surface through its narrow neck, using a hooked brush of the craftsman’s own construction, building a complete miniature composition no wider than a thumb.
Each bottle in this pair stands approximately 7 cm tall and measures 3.5 cm at its widest point, blown from fine glass. The interior painting is applied in reverse order through the neck: the most distant elements are laid down first, the foreground last. The agate stoppers are shaped and polished individually from natural stone, with no two identical in their banding or color. The stoppers seat with a subtle resistance that confirms proper fit. The paired composition is traditional, with the two bottles designed as mirrored works intended to occupy a flat surface together. Each bottle arrives with a small fitted wooden stand.
Display the pair on a desk, mantelpiece, or display cabinet shelf, ideally where light can pass through the glass and illuminate the interior painting. The fitted stands keep each bottle upright and stable. The stoppers should be removed and replaced gently; agate and glass both respond to force. This is a display piece, though the original function as a tobacco container is intact. The pair arrives in a traditional-style gift box.
Inside-painted snuff bottles emerged as a distinct Chinese art form during the Qing dynasty, reaching their peak under the patronage of the Qianlong Emperor, who collected them in the thousands. The technique requires years of training before a painter can execute a complete composition through a neck no wider than a finger. The Hengshui school of Hebei Province established itself as the dominant regional tradition in the nineteenth century and remains so today, with painters working in a documented lineage of technique transmission.
Are inside-painted snuff bottles a good collector’s investment? Inside-painted snuff bottles have been actively collected in China, Hong Kong, and internationally since the nineteenth century. Pieces from named masters of the Hengshui school command significant prices at auction. This pair is a strong entry point into the category, representing the established iconographic tradition at a level of detail that rewards close examination.
Additional information
| Modèle | Bambous et Roseaux |
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