Walters Collection
Walters Museum of Art
Photo: AFSCME; Cover photo: Elena Damon
The Walters Art Museum's snuff bottle collection traces directly to the collecting activities of William T. Walters and his son Henry, whose holdings passed to the museum by bequest in 1931. The bottles, acquired in the second half of the nineteenth century, reflect the elder Walters' broad engagement with Asian decorative arts at a moment when Chinese objects were entering American collections in significant numbers for the first time. The collection was displayed in a dedicated installation organized in conjunction with the 50th Annual Convention of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, held in Baltimore. The holdings are primarily porcelain, including underglaze blue examples and famille-rose wares, with additional pieces in glass and metal.
Assembled by William T. Walters and his son Henry in the nineteenth century and bequeathed to the museum in 1931, the Walters' snuff bottle holdings offer a window into how American collectors first encountered and understood the form.
Additional resources
From the collection
Cast copper alloy with Buddhist emblems
China, late 18th–19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Partially gilded cast copper alloy decorated with Buddhist emblems; coral stopper. Acquired by William T. Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 53.133.
Porcelain with underglaze copper-red landscape
China, 1821–1850, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period. Snuff bottle. Porcelain of pilgrim bottle form, painted in underglaze copper-red with a continuous mountain and river landscape, speckled with green from firing conditions; Daoguang reign mark; glass stopper with green-stained bone collar. Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters before 1896. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 49.285.
Cinnabar lacquer with peonies
China, late 18th–19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Wood carved and lacquered in cinnabar with peonies; copper alloy mounts. Acquired by William T. Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 67.616.
Carnelian carved with the sixteen Luohans
China, 19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Carnelian of flattened vase form, carved with the sixteen Luohans among foliage; lappet border at neck; green glass stopper. Gift of Shirley E. Gantz, from the collection of Mrs. Marvin E. Gantz, Sr., 1999. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 42.1502.
Glass imitating realgar with dragon-like forms
China, 19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Glass imitating realgar with dragon-like forms. Acquired by William T. Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 47.314.
Enamelled porcelain modelled in high relief with figures in a landscape and a boat
China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Snuff bottle. Porcelain modelled in high relief with two figures in a landscape and men in a boat, decorated in enamels. Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 49.98.
Porcelain with overglaze enamel dragon
China, 1821–1850, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period. Snuff bottle. Porcelain decorated in overglaze enamels with a dragon; Daoguang reign mark; carnelian stopper. Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters before 1896. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 49.97.
Blue glass with poems about wine and flowers
China, 19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Blue glass inscribed with poems about wine in winter and flowers in spring. Acquired by William T. Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 47.300.
Agate carved with boy on a buffalo beside a pine tree
China, 19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Translucent agate with raised carving in amber tones depicting a boy on a buffalo beside a pine tree; rose quartz stopper in metal mount. Gift of Shirley E. Gantz, from the collection of Mrs. Marvin E. Gantz, Sr., 1999. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 42.1505.
Enamelled porcelain with butterflies and melon vine
China, circa second quarter 19th century, Qing dynasty. Snuff bottle. Porcelain of rare flared form, decorated in enamels with butterflies and melon vine; four-character Yonglotang zhi mark in blue enamel on base. Acquired by William T. Walters. © Walters Art Museum. Accession number: 49.76.
The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society
2 Hamill Road, Suite 353
Baltimore, MD 21210 USA
410-467-9400
