Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 9. (Budapest, 1966)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Polonyi, Péter: Some Inside-Painted Chinese Snuff Bottles
to be the earliest one 3 ), and after a golden period lasting hardly a quarter of a century — falling mainly on the last decade of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century — it sank already into decay. 4 Although this specialized art is of rather late origin and its golden period includes but a short time, its development, its achievements and the history of its study are equally interesting and instructive from the aspect of universal and Chinese industrial arts. It is an excellent example for demonstrating that — in so far as the conditions of reception are ripe — the art of any country can fully appropriate a branch of art created under foreign influence. Including the art of painting (and, through its subjects, literature as well), calligraphy, the processing of precious stones, that is a miniature technique requiring a high degree of endurance and skill, this brach of industrial art though appearing to be a typically Chinese one, is based on entirely foreign foundations. As a matter of fact, glassmaking was spread in China under foreign influence in the period before our era, 5 the habit of snuffing was adopted in the 16th century 6 through the intermediary of Europeans, glasspainting came to Canton from Europe in the 18th century, 7 while the conditions of manufacturing inside-painted glass bottles were established in China only in consequence of the industrial development of the 19th century. 8 However, all this could not prevent the snuff bottles — including the inside-painted ones — to become the representatives as typical of Chinese miniature art as the netsuke is of the Japanese. It is not yet entirely clear what is the correlation between glass-painting 9 practised already in the 18th century in the Imperial court, on one hand, and the painting of snuff bottles started in the second half of the 19th century, also with Peking as its centre, on the other hand. Direct affinity seams to be proved by the fact that the picture is painted in both cases on the reverse of the glass requiring an essentially similar painting technique; however, it seems to be inconsistent with the fact that earlier glass-painters used oil colours, whereas the snuff bottles were made with water-colours, with the exception of the seal. 10 Although we do not yet know the circumstances leading to the formation inside-painted snuff bottles, our knowledge of the multisecular function of snuff bottles made of various materials may be helpful in the understanding 3 ;) . . . is apparently the oldest known example of this specialized art . . . whether or not Chou Lo-yüan ever painted any still earlier bottles not yet discovered . . .'* (Cammann HJAS) . . . the first known snuff bottle by Chou Lo-yüan was done ... in 1887. Whether or not Chou ever painted still earlier bottles, not yet discovered . . ." (Cammann OA) "His earliest painted bottle so far has been found to be one dated 1887.,, (Perry op. cit.) 4 In his classification Cammann refers to the period between 1915 and 1935 as to one of decline (Cammann OA p. 89). 5 From Hirth until the recent past, Western scientists suggest the total or partial European origin of Chinese glass-making. — Friedrich Hirth : Zur Geschichte des Glases in China. Chinesische Studien, pp. 62 — 68. München und Leipzig 1890. — G. G. Seligman and H. C. Beck: Far Eastern Glass: Some western origins. BMFEA No. 10. 1 — 64. 1938. etc. 6 Li Ssu-chun : Yehy ü tang Ming tai mo nien chuang ju Chung-kuo yü Ou-chou (Wen Shih. 3. pp. 112 — 113. Peking 1963). 7 M. Jourdan and R. Soame Jenyns : Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century. London 1950. pp. 33 — 39. 8 According to Cammann OA pp. 86 — 87, it was etched inside. 9 M . Jourdan and R. Soame Jenyns : op. cit. p. 34. 10 Cammann OA p. 86.
