HONG KONG.- Christie’s will offer a collection of fine and rare snuff bottles from a private American collection for auction this October. This collection of 37 bottles represents some of the most exquisite gem-like miniatures of their type.

Snuff bottles are small containers for ground tobacco, one of the most popular exotic stimulants for the Chinese elite in the 18th and 19th centuries. Once a portable vanity item, these bottles were made in a wide array of materials and decorative techniques, such as jade carving, glassware, enamel ware, ceramics, lacquer ware and bamboo.

Highlights in this collection include delicately enamelled glass bottles. Perfecting these bottles required great mastery in the control of the different melting temperatures of the glass body and those of the painted enamels. A lack of skills would have resulted these bottles to collapse in the kilns. These miniature forms demonstrate the highest level of expertise that was achieved in the imperial workshops during the 18th century.

‘Immersing myself in this bottle, who says that the day and night is long?’ – Yongzheng Emperor

ADDITIONAL AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

• An Exquisite And Very Rare Painted Enamel Snuff Bottle Qianlong Mark And Period Estimate: HK$2,400,000-3,500,000 / US$300,000-437,500

• A Finely Enamelled ‘Egrets And Lotus’ Glass Snuff Bottle Qianlong Mark And Period Estimate: HK$2,400,000-3,500,000 / US$300,000-437,500

• A Rare And Finely Enamelled Copper Snuff Bottle Qianlong Mark And Period Estimate: HK$240,000-350,000 / US$30,000-43,750

• A Superb Black And White Jade Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th/19th Century Estimate: HK$2,000,000-3,000,000 / US$250,000-375,000

• A Rare And Finely Enamelled Guyue Xuan Blue Glass Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th Century Estimate: HK$500,000-700,000 / US$62,500-87,500

• A Carved Cameo Agate Snuff Bottle Qianlong Mark And Period Estimate: HK$350,000-550,000 / US$43,750-68,750

• A Fine And Very Rare White Jade Eggplant-Form Snuff Bottle With Integral Stopper Qing Dynasty, 18th Century Estimate: HK$600,000-900,000 / US$75,000-112,500