How to Buy Interior Painted Snuff Bottles by Hugh M. Moss
Number One, of Chinese Snuff-Bottles: A Magazine for the Collector and Student of Chinese Snuff-Bottles, edited by Hugh M. Moss, originally published in 1964
Hugh M. Moss’s “How to buy interior painted Snuff-Bottles” is the opening instalment of a series intended to help collectors recognise, date and assess Chinese inside-painted snuff bottles. Writing for the first issue of Chinese Snuff-Bottles, Moss begins by explaining why these bottles are especially suitable for study: their signatures, schools and dates provide evidence that can be used to trace the development of the art. He divides the history of interior painting into three broad periods—the Early School, beginning around 1800 and ending about 1885; the Middle School, active from roughly 1885 to 1945; and the Modern School, beginning around 1950. The article’s first section surveys these schools and their styles, giving a brief account of the work and importance of individual artists. Moss explains that later instalments will examine the artists separately and in greater detail, including their signatures, styles and other identifying characteristics useful to collectors today.
Publication details
Title: Chinese Snuff-Bottles: A Magazine for the Collector and Student of Chinese Snuff-Bottles
Issue: Number One / No. 1
Editor: Hugh M. Moss
Language: English
Format: Illustrated softcover magazine/periodical
Length: 56 pages
Size: approximately 23 × 15–16 cm (around 9 × 6 inches)
Subject: Chinese snuff bottles, collecting, identification, history and connoisseurship
Article: “How to buy interior painted Snuff-Bottles” by Hugh M. Moss, beginning on p. 29 in the copy shown.
