{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O8468"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8468/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU1902/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HU1902/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HU1902","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU9453","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O8468/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O8468","accessionNumber":"C.1942&A-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 rounded flattened flask form, with wide neck-hole and two-part stopper with irregular flat top.\r\nIt is made of chalcedony, honey colour shading to grey, with dark brown skin and inclusions, with decoration carved in low relief. The stopper of turquoise blue ceramic and coral.\r\nThe decoration depicts a fisherman sitting in a boat with a basket beside him, the moon and a bat above. On the neck of the bottle is a cloud and on the reverse, a cat sitting beside a rock, and bamboo with a butterfly on it.\r\nThe bottle does not have a foot but a flat oval base.\r\nThe shallow dark brown layer is carved to form the decoration; there is some carving on the grey areas of stone as well.\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 for <font i>maodie</font>, meaning 'long life' (Bartholomew, 1988).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","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":["2015HU1902","2006AU9453"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES363113"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES363113"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Snuff bottle","id":""}],[{"text":"Stopper","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"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":"5.2","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":"Scu, China, carving, chalcedony\n\nScu, 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":"bamboo","id":"AAT11873"},{"text":"cat","id":"x30168"},{"text":"fishermen (people)","id":"AAT25608"},{"text":"moon","id":"x30118"},{"text":"butterfly","id":"x30161"},{"text":"bat (animal)","id":"x30092"},{"text":"rock","id":"AAT11692"},{"text":"basket","id":"AAT194498"},{"text":"boat","id":"AAT178749"},{"text":"漁夫","id":"CIT282564"},{"text":"行舟","id":"CIT287860"},{"text":"小舟","id":"CIT281998"},{"text":"斗笠","id":"CIT282894"},{"text":"魚籃","id":"CIT0293638"},{"text":"雲","id":"CIT284042"},{"text":"月","id":"CIT286451"},{"text":"波浪","id":"CIT284907"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.1942-1910","C.1942A-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"1942","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Snuff bottle","Stopper"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"1998-07-22","availableToBook":true}}