This two-volume boxed edition presents in its entirety the collection of Chinese snuff bottles owned by James and Julie Li. The 451 bottles and 33 related craft items in this collection comprise some of the most outstanding works of the genre. Almost every piece is shown at actual size, while the text offers an examination of each piece, both in terms of their physical qualities and its history and significance as a work of art.

“Julie and Jim Li represent the first modern generation of great collectors who were able to shift their focus of attention to the art of the snuff bottle from its material variety. With them the age of magpie mania in the snuff bottle world gave way to the age of connoisseurship. With material variety or rarity relegated to subordinate status, they pioneered the more sophisticated trend in snuff bottle collecting which governs today and is focussed on esoteric artistic qualities. This trend has been responsible for a new perception of the snuff bottle, transforming it from little more than an amusing material trinket to an individual work of art with the same potential for the highest level of artistic communication as any other. Snuff bottles were originally perceived that way in China, but the immensely influential Victorian intellectual emphasis on the material aspects of aesthetics had tended to disenfranchise the art in favour of the object. The Lis championed the reversal of this trend, emancipating the snuff bottle and encouraging us once again to see past the material object to the art.” - Hugh Moss 

Minor shelf wear to slipcase.