1750-1850

The shape of this bottle is similar to bottles in nephrite, jadeite, coral and other materials produced, often for the court, as a popular staple from the mid-eighteenth century through to the end of the dynasty. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the form became a popular standard for inside painted bottles produced at Beijing and in Shandong province. Many old plain crystal bottles of this shape were recycled by inside painted artists from the 1880s into the 1960s, reducing the numbers of surviving old bottles in their original purity (see lot 253, for instance).

Crystal was one of the most popular materials for snuff bottles from the outset, because certain important qualities of the snuff for the snuff connoisseur could be seen through the walls of the bottle (such as color and grade).