Snuff bottles are the Chinese equivalent of the snuff boxes that evolved in the Western World. Both were used as containers for powdered tobacco. Tobacco was originally brought to Europe from the Americas and the powdered variety became known as snuff. It was subsequently introduced to China, probably by Portuguese traders. Later Jesuit missionaries were known to have presented the Emperor with an elaborate snuff box and a quantity of snuff. The Emperor delighted in this gift but soon found that snuff could be better preserved in the traditional Chinese medicine bottles. He had equally elegant snuff bottles made for himself and members of his family. Soon snuff bottles became a status symbol for the nobility and in time for the entire population. When were the finest snuff bottles made?

Because tobacco originated in the New World, it did not reach China until the late 16th century. The popularity of snuff and snuff bottles became evident in the late 17th century but the 18th and 19th centuries were the glory days for the production of snuff bottles even though the art continues to the present day.

All the traditional materials that Chinese artisans and scholars used for works of art including jade, precious and semi-precious stones, other hard stones, glass, porcelain and ceramics, metals and organic materials such as ivory, amber, lacquer, tortoiseshell, wood, even tangerine skins and coconut shells, etc.