A couple of things from China

The only thing that these two small objects have in common is that they started life in China.

The bottle is for holding snuff. Snuff bottles were originally used by the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty to contain powdered tobacco. They were were made out of many different materials including porcelain, jade, ivory, wood, tortoiseshell, metal, ceramic and glass. This one is modern and was given to me by a visiting work colleague a number of years ago. It is made of glass and has been painted with various figures. The wonder of it is that the paint is on the inside of the bottle. The painting was done through the neck of the bottle with a tiny brush, and the layers were applied in reverse order!

The apple isn't real, but man-made and is tiny - for scale, the bottle is only 2 and a half inches tall. My 5 year-old grandson, who loves his fruit, was totally taken in and bit into a similar one. Clever people those Chinese craftsmen!