Snuff Bottle with European Woman and Child

Snuff Bottle with European Woman and Child

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jesuit missionaries brought snuff, or powdered tobacco, to China in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Its use spread quickly, leading to a need for small containers to hold it. Snuff bottles were produced in large numbers and in an astonishing variety of media during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Not all of the snuff bottles were functional. Many were collected for their exoticism, as the eighteenth century was a time of fascination with foreign, especially Western, taste.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Snuff Bottle with European Woman and ChildSnuff Bottle with European Woman and ChildSnuff Bottle with European Woman and ChildSnuff Bottle with European Woman and ChildSnuff Bottle with European Woman and Child

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.