Palace Museum Collection
The Palace Museum
The Palace Museum in Beijing holds what is, by any measure, the most historically significant collection of Chinese snuff bottles in existence. These are not acquired objects but imperial possessions, created in and for the Forbidden City and never dispersed. The museum published its landmark catalogue Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum in 1995, documenting a collection that spans the full arc of Qing imperial production, from the earliest Palace Workshop experiments in enameled glass under the Kangxi Emperor through the extraordinary flowering of the craft under Qianlong. Where the National Palace Museum in Taipei holds objects evacuated to Taiwan in 1949, the Beijing collection represents what remained—a complementary body of imperial material that together with Taipei forms the definitive record of snuff bottles at the Qing court.
Never acquired, never dispersed, the Palace Museum's snuff bottles are imperial objects that have never left the Forbidden City, forming the most historically unimpeachable collection of the form in existence.
From the collection
Enamel on glass with flowers and butterflies on yellow ground
China, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Snuff bottle. Glass of double gourd form, painted in enamels with flowers and butterflies on a yellow ground. © The Palace Museum.
Red overlay on white glass with cranes, bats, and pavilion above waves
China (Beijing, Palace Workshops), Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Snuff bottle. White glass with red overlay, depicting a continuous scene of a pavilion rising from ocean waves, with bats, wan characters, and a crane carrying a scroll in flight; Qianlong nianzhi mark incised on base; gilt-bronze stopper with ivory spoon. © The Palace Museum.
Painted enamel glass with magpies and flowers on gold ground
China (Beijing, Palace Workshops), Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Snuff bottle. Opaque white glass painted in enamels on a gold ground, with shaped panels depicting magpies and willow on one side and magpies, roses, and garden rocks on the other; decorative borders outside the panels; Qianlong nianzhi seal mark in two columns incised on base; gilt-bronze stopper with ivory spoon. © The Palace Museum.
Green overlay on yellow glass with katydid and bean pods
China, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Yellow glass with green overlay depicting a katydid among bean pods; pink tourmaline stopper with ivory spoon. © The Palace Museum.
Painted enamel glass with ladies and European architectural landscapes
China (Beijing, Palace Workshops), Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Snuff bottle. White glass of flattened rectangular form, painted in enamels with arched panels depicting ladies carrying baskets on the main sides and European architectural landscapes in pink on the narrow sides; plantain leaf border at neck and scrolling vine at shoulder; Qianlong nianzhi mark in blue enamel regular script on base; pale green glass stopper with ivory spoon. © The Palace Museum.
Plain sky-blue glass of oval form
China, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Plain sky-blue glass of oval form. © The Palace Museum.
Painted enamel glass in gourd form with gourds, flowers, and bats
China (Beijing, Palace Workshops), Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Snuff bottle. White glass of gourd form, painted in enamels with a continuous design of gourd vines with green leaves, white flowers, yellow gourds, and five red bats in flight, forming an auspicious "ten thousand generations" pattern; Qianlong nianzhi mark in blue regular script on base; gilt-bronze stopper with ivory spoon. © The Palace Museum.
Double color overlay on white glass with morning glories
China, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. White glass with double color overlay depicting morning glory flowers. © The Palace Museum.
Smoky crystal carved with roundel shou character
China, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Smoky crystal carved with a roundel shou (longevity) character. © The Palace Museum.
The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society
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