The Stuff of Snuff Bottles Snuff bottles are storytellers of Chinese history. Having both decorative and functional qualities, they're an important link between arts, crafts, and the daily lives of Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese. The modern day craze for collecting Chinese snuff bottles is not only a reflection of their beauty and technical virtuosity but also an attribution to their unique power to conjure images of the seventeenth century Chinese setting. You can clearly imagine the men who owned them and the robe pockets in which they were carried when looking at these antiquities. How snuff first reached China during the Ming Dynasty is unknown.
Some historians speculate that it came from Portuguese via Macau.
Others claim it was imported from Japan or Korea. Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that the Spanish introduced snuff through the Philippines, since Spain was concurrently colonizing the American continent where tobacco originated. No matter how it was initially imported, taking snuff quickly became a popular trend among the high society Chinese, who considered it healthier and less intrusive than smoking. When snuff first appeared, it was contained in metal storage vessels with hinged lids. This European convention, however, was impractical in China because of its seasonally humid climate.