Apatite Pearl & Snuff Bottle Bib Necklace

The earliest written mentions and surviving examples of snuff bottles date to the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty. Use was at first limited to Beijing, although gradually spread to other parts of the country by the 1800s. However, it was still firmly associated with the rich and powerful. Snuff bottles were constructed in a variety of shapes, designs, and materials, but all included a stopper and ivory-handled spoon. Usually small enough to be held in the hand, they could be fashioned from glass, porcelain, minerals (such as quartz crystal, jade, and gemstones), or organic materials such as amber, lacquer, coral, ivory (including the particularly valuable hornbill ivory), and tortoiseshell. Many bottles were fashioned into shapes scarcely resembling traditional bottles, including representational figures of humans and animals.