{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O8433"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8433/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3659/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW3659/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MW3659","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU9525","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O8433/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O8433","accessionNumber":"C.1778-1910","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 round flattened flask form curving to narrow flat base. It has a three-part stopper.\r\nIt is made of chalcedony, honey colour with dark brown inclusions, with decoration carved in relief. The stopper is of yellow glass, quartz coloured pink and a pearl.\r\nThe decoration depicts a boy and three-legged toad on water, the boy sitting on a lotus leaf and holding a peach and clouds overhead. On the reverse there is a man and a boy sitting in a landscape with pine, magic fungus, clouds and vapour.\r\nThe bottle does not have a foot but instead a small oval flat base.\r\nThe dark brown inclusions are incorporated well in the carved decoration; densely incised curved lines are used in the carving of the waves and clouds which frame the scenes.  The boy and the lotus leaf form a rebus meaning 'Noble sons born in succession', since the Chinese word for lotus, <font i>lian</font>, also means 'in succession'. The three-legged toad is a reference to the boy Liu Hai for whom a three-legged toad spat out gold coins, bringing sudden wealth.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"chalcedony","id":"AAT11134"},{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"},{"text":"quartz","id":"AAT11132"},{"text":"pearl","id":"AAT11827"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},{"text":"incising","id":"AAT53847"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Chalcedony with carved relief decoration and a stopper of yellow glass, quartz coloured pink and a pearl","categories":[{"text":"ELISE","id":"THES48961"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Personal accessories","id":"THES48912"}],"styles":[{"text":"Qing","id":"AAT18478"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2021MW3659","2006AU9525"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES363113"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"SNUFF BOTTLE AND STOPPER","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1750-1895","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1895-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Salting Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"6.7","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":"Scu, China, carving, chalcedony","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":"toad (amphibian)","id":"x30095"},{"text":"boys","id":"AAT247598"},{"text":"men","id":"AAT25928"},{"text":"lotus","id":"AAT165258"},{"text":"landscapes (representations)","id":"AAT15636"},{"text":"peach","id":"AAT12417"},{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"magic fungus","id":"x36035"},{"text":"water","id":"AAT11772"},{"text":"劉海蟾","id":"CIT280996"},{"text":"浮槎","id":"CIT282493"},{"text":"金蟾","id":"CIT0288690"},{"text":"浮遊 (動物)","id":"CIT284295"},{"text":"祥雲","id":"CIT280093"},{"text":"波浪","id":"CIT284907"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.1778-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"1778","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-29","recordCreationDate":"1998-07-21","availableToBook":true}}