Are You up to Snuff?
“Smells, I think, may be the last thing on earth to die.”
― Fern Schumer Chapman,
This curious little piece came to our possession last year—it was actually during our anniversary! If there’s one thing I enjoy doing is surprising my wife with little things here and there, and this particular year, I surprised her with a day off from work. You see, I managed to get a hold of her boss about a week prior and asked him if she could have the day, since our anniversary landed on a Friday. He was happy to oblige, and of course asked him to not say anything because it was going to be a surprise.
Now, normally she goes into work 30 minutes before I do, but I get up before her. That particular morning, after I was ready to go, I asked her if she would like to go out for breakfast. Of course, with a very puzzled look she says, “Right now?” To which I replied, “Yes.” “But I have to go to work.” was her response. And so the surprise was sprung! “No you don’t.”
Once breakfast was done, we made our way to a small little shop called, Closet Connoisseur. It’s a consignment store that has all sorts of neat and unique items. Unfortunately we don’t get to go there very often due to their hours, but when we can, we definitely like to stop by. While looking around, inside one of their many cases, there was a small red crane which immediately caught my eye.
The intricate Oriental design first led me to believe that it was a type of red and white jade perfume bottle. I instantly inquired about it and asked to see it. Once in my hands, it had a very smooth and interesting texture, almost like a bar of soap. It is here where I realized it wasn’t actually jade, but glass.
Upon turning this little find over, a different design emerged on the other side—that of a goat.
For the top of the bottle, the cap is made of an interesting sort of aqua color smooth stone. The most intriguing part of this amazing adventure happened when the cap was removed…
Attached to the cap was what I could only best describe at the time as a sort of micro spear? It had a tiny shaft that ended with a tip in a leaf-like shape which is typical of ancient spears, although this one in particular was also concave. “What an odd way to apply perfume!” was our immediate thought.
Needless to say, as you can imagine, if you were to go to that little shop today, you will not find this little treasure there because it is now part of our collection—standing guard in front of our little jade tree. But the excitement doesn’t end there! I had to do some research of course! Lo and behold, this is actually not a perfume bottle at all. Want to know what it is? …::drumroll::… It’s a Snuff bottle! That’s correct, not a Sniff bottle—though that’s kind of close as well, haha!
What is Snuff you ask? Some of you may know it as chewing tobacco. However, snuff is also a very fine powder tobacco which is actually inhaled through the nose. Sometimes it is even mixed with different herbs and spices to give it different “flavors” and smells. While it’s not very popular nowadays, it was first originated in America during the 16th century, and by the 17th century, it became all the rage throughout Europe. Around 1644 is when the Chinese began consuming it during the Qing dynasty, all the way through around 1911. But it was during this time period where these Snuff bottles came to be! They needed a way to protect their powder from moisture and humidity, as well as an easy way to carry it.
Have any of you heard of these before, or even have some yourself? I'd love to hear about it! Just leave me a comment below.
As always, thank you for stopping by. Your time is precious and I appreciate you spending it here. If you haven’t already, make sure you don’t miss any new posts by signing up below. Take care of yourselves and see you back here in two weeks!