{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O8282"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8282/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW4494/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW4494/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MW4494","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU9240","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O8282/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O8282","accessionNumber":"C.1678-1910","objectType":"Snuff bottle","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Snuff is powdered tobacco, usually blended with aromatic herbs or spices. The habit of snuff-taking spread to China from the West during the 17th century and became established in the 18th century. People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. By the 20th century these bottles had become collectors' items, owing to the great variety of materials and decorative techniques used in their production.","physicalDescription":"The bottle is a flattened pear form with no stopper.\r\nIt is made of glass, transparent with a white tinge, densely mottled with white flecks, with overlay of green glass carved in relief.\r\nThe decoration depicts a badger and a magpie beneath a pine tree growing from a rock. On the reverse there is a cat looking up at a butterfly, beside a plant in a square pot.\r\nThe splayed foot is partly formed by the overlay, with angular indentation underneath.\r\nThe badger, <font i>huan</font>, looking up at the sky and the magpie, <font i>sique</font>, looking down at the ground represent the phrase <font i>Huan tian xi di</font>, 'Delight in heaven and happiness on earth' (<font i>Zhongguo Jixiang Tu'an, 1978, p.152</font>).\r\nThe word for butterfly, <font i>die</font>, is a homonym with the word for 'seventy' and the word for cat, <font i>mao</font>, sounds like the word for 'eighty'; together they form  <font i>maodie</font> meaning 'long life' (Bartholemew, 1988).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Glass, transparent with a white tinge, with overlay of green glass carved in relief","categories":[{"text":"ELISE","id":"THES48961"},{"text":"Glass","id":"THES48946"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Personal accessories","id":"THES48912"}],"styles":[{"text":"Qing","id":"AAT18478"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2021MW4494","2006AU9240"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES363111"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"SNUFF BOTTLE","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1750-1909","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1909-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Salting Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"6.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bequeathed by Mr. George Salting, accessioned in 1910. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cer, China, Qing, GLASS, OVERLAY","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"White, Helen. <font -u>Snuff Bottles from China</font>. London: Bamboo Publishing Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. 291p., ill. ISBN 1870076109."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"cats","id":"x34806"},{"text":"butterflies","id":"x30135"},{"text":"badgers","id":"x30169"},{"text":"pine tree","id":"x46397"},{"text":"rocks","id":"AAT11692"},{"text":"birds","id":"x35043"},{"text":"magpies","id":"x40296"},{"text":"plants","id":"AAT132360"},{"text":"pots","id":"AAT45697"},{"text":"貓","id":"CIT283740"},{"text":"窺視 (動物)","id":"CIT280229"},{"text":"蹲 (動物)","id":"CIT283755"},{"text":"蝴蝶","id":"CIT283662"},{"text":"展翅 (動物)","id":"CIT284369"},{"text":"盆花","id":"CIT0292918"},{"text":"花盆","id":"CIT283024"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.1678-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"1678","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"1998-07-10","availableToBook":true}}