Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇

Thought it might be fun for members to share museums in each of our areas that house snuff bottle collections.. !

There are a couple near me. One on the Coast in Seattle, and then another in Portland Oregon. I forget the date, but during 2012 the ICSBS will be hosting a convention in Portland. 

Seattle Asian Art Museum

The Seattle Asian Art Museum houses a collection of Chinese and Japanese artwork including ceramics, jades, sculpture, snuff bottles and belt decorations. It also features works from other parts of Asia and the Himalayas.

The museum has free admission on the first Thursday of every month, the first Friday of the month is free for seniors and the first Saturdays are free for families. Admission regularly costs $7 for adults, $5 for students, seniors over  62 years and youth aged 13 through 17. Children under 12 and Seattle Art Museum  members get in free.

Seattle Asian Art Museum
1400 East Prospect Street
Seattle, WA
(206) 654-3100
seattleartmuseum.org

Portland Museum

Private Passions: Snuff Bottles and Ceramic Jarlets

Private Passions consists of two collections given to the Museum: The Maybelle Clark Macdonald Collection of Chinese and Japanese Snuff Bottles and the Jeanne Gunther Hemphill Collection of Asian Ceramics.

1219 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 226-2811
Open Tue-Wed,Sat 10am-5pm; Thu-Fri 10am-8pm; Sun 12pm-5pm

Thanks for sharing George!  It seems to have been quiet here.  I am surprised that I did not miss much after a week's or so absence.

Yes, it really has been quiet ..

Found this snippet of info online..

In Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries with museums, most have a collection of Chinese snuff bottles. Jerusalem in Palestine, Lebanon, Beirut, Damascus and other Syrian cities, you can also find a collection of Chinese snuff bottles artists.
 
In Europe, the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, Madrid, Spain, Italy, Florence, Milan, Turin, Rome and other cities of the museum collection of Chinese snuff bottles.

 ??? Jerusalem is not IN Palestine, George. There is NO Palestine. Unless you mean Palestine, Texas. Jerusalem isn't there either. It is in and is the capital of, Israel. And the only museum which has snuff bottles in Jerusalem, is the Israel Museum ( which might have been a good hint as to the country Jerusalem is in).  ;) ;D
 Joey, from Jerusalem, ISRAEL

   I was in Budapest in late April. I made a special visit to the Hopp-Ferenc East-Asian Art Museum, to see their snuff bottles.
  Waste of time and a tram ticket!
  The 20-25 bottles on display are mediocre 1850-1930 examples, but all are attributed to the 18th C., and to the Palace Workshops!  I told someone there, that if the bottles had been as good as they were described, the museum would have had a great collection.
  I had with me my 1987 SC burgundy catalogue, to give them for their library (it was lightweight). I showed the guy  about 10  bottles, my example compared to their example in the display case. He agreed that mine looked better even though just illustrations. I left my card, with a request that they email me if they wanted free copies of my 1998 IPSB, and 2007 B&WSB catalogues. Haven't heard back yet.
 Shabbat Shalom, Joey

I have visited a lot of museums in my almost 20 years in Thailand, and never seen a single snuff bottle! I'd like to know which museum has any.

Pat, have you ever come across one here?

Tom

Hi Tom

No, I have not either,..although it is a bit puzzling to me as the 'Hokkien' chinese (from Fuijian province) started coming into Thailand in masses during the mid 1800s (tin mining labor) and should have brought with them the snuffing habits and the bottles.  It is a bit of a mystery to me why there are not more snuff bottles to be found in Thailand, especially in Bangkok.  As we discussed in another thread, the Thai themselves used other containers (mostly metal and silver).  The only explanation I can give it is that the lower classes that immigrated still did not do much 'snuffing' at the time they came to Thailand, and for the Thai themselves it was an 'elitist' habit, connected to Royalty and the court.  

Hi Pat,

Thanks for your input. I concur with all that you say.

Tom

Pat,
   You are most probably correct. All the Thai snuff bottles John Ault shared with me, in Lacque Burgaute and in silver, had Thai Royal provenance. They were all also GORGEOUS and so elegant, while ornately decorated, I quite coveted them!
Joey

Dear members,

I found this online collection while searching the internet and they have a fairly respectable collection.  The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a huge collection in all categories and over 100 snuff bottles:

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?results=54&searchTxt=%2522Snuff%2BBottle%2522&searchNameID=&searchClassID=&provenance=0&audio=0&onView=0&searchOrigin=1475798&searchDeptID=&page=4&action=post (http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?results=54&searchTxt=%2522Snuff%2BBottle%2522&searchNameID=&searchClassID=&provenance=0&audio=0&onView=0&searchOrigin=1475798&searchDeptID=&page=4&action=post)

My favorite is a molded and reticulated porcelain SB attributed to the Qianlong Period

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/262824.html?mulR=1495681821|167 (http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/262824.html?mulR=1495681821|167)

Best regards,

Tom B.

Yes, I stumbled on to this collection while searching for Gu Yue Xuan bottles. They have a few of them.

That is a beautiful molded bottle you favor too !

Yeah,
   Except that the bottle is Japanese, late Meiji or even Taisho (ie., ca.1880-1930).
 The mate to it is in the Trammell Crow Collection of Japanese snuff bottles. Both Charll and I saw the collection when it was on display at the Japanese Gardens and Cultural Center near Palm Beach FLA., during the 2011 ICSBS convention there.

     Tom, look at it again. Don't you 'see' the late 19th C. Japanese 'Art Nouveaux' style of it?
Best,
Joey

Dear Joey, great! Live and learn, we say. Yesterday I did look quickly at that bottle, I thought to myself that it was very nice, and switch back to other threads. But without realizing it, my brain must have stored some strange feeling, because now, by reading your comment and without looking at the bottle again, my reaction was “It is true! There was something strange! How I didn’t note that?”.  Thank you!
Kind regards
Giovanni

Dear Joey,

You are correct. To my defense the enamels are surprisingly convincing and Crane roundels have been used in China since the Ming dynasty.  Of course the shape of the neck should have told me, but the museum "expert" had hands-on experience.  Over the years I have occasionally found mistakes in Museum attributions, but generally tend to accept them. This is another museum mistake.

I searched for the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection and only found this:

http://morikami.org/exhibits/small-wonders-japanese-snuff-bottles/ (http://morikami.org/exhibits/small-wonders-japanese-snuff-bottles/)


They have a collection search for the museum in Dallas, but no snuff bottles.

If I remember correctly, the Seattle Art Museum ( the downtown Asian Art museum) received the Eugene Sung collection of ceramic snuff bottles.  Eugene was a old dealer and an early member of the ICSBS.  The bottles were shown during the ICSBS Convention in 1998.  The bottles were very high quality--but I haven't seen them in over 20 years. 

Dear Bob,

     Had you  been imbibing David Spaid's McAlan whiskey?
The Eugene Sung collection, given by Melissa Gates, was CRAP!
There were enameled bottles of little cats and butterflies, of the quality I bought as gifts to kids in 1978 on Cat St. in HK. The old stuff was at best mediocre, and the modern stuff about the same.

    The great collection at the Seattle Art Museum is the Thal Family Collection. Sydney Thal and his brother were Jewish revugees from Hitler's Germany in the mid 1930s, and they were really welcomed by all on their arrival to Seattle.

    Many years later, they gave their collection of first-rate SBs. I believe that you have mixed up the two collections. The Thal Collection was on display in the public area, and is superb; the Sung collection was crap and in 1998, was displayed in boxes on tables in a storeroom, with Mrs. Gates looking on.

    Eugene Sung was also infamous in the ICSBS for selling fake Wang Xisan bottles for top dollar in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

    It came out at the 1981 Honolulu convention, when Master Wang attended a session, and signed genuine examples of his art with an indelible marker on the bottom of the bottles.

   Wang Xisan very openly pointed out the fakes, 2 or 3 of them bought from Sung by Mrs. Mary J. Morrison, from North Pender BC Canada.

   Sung was thrown out of the ICSBS by the Board for refusing to refund her purchases and those of at least 2 others. When he did refund them in cash a bit later, he was allowed to rejoin the Society.

Best,
Joey 

For Singapore, do look in the National Heritage Board archives. If I recall correctly, the Asian Civilization Museum has a number of bottles, though I'm not sure if they're on display.