Detail of a snuff bottle, Mongolia
The lion-like monster on the sides of many of the snuff bottles holds a ring in its mouth and is a well-known Chinese symbol of power, known as the tao’tie, the glutton. According to Haslund the Mongols have a different story to tell: the faces represent an old and much hated king of the black doctrine, so the Mongols
squeeze the sides of the snuff bottles in order to remind themselves that the black religion is gone.
