Inside-Snuff-Bottle Painting - A Chinese World Heritage Icon

In the Chinese class that I took last semester, we had to give short (3-5 minute) presentations in Chinese on a topic of our choice. I chose to argue that inside-bottle-painting is China's most iconic and important traditional art form, because it incorporates many of other traditional art forms, and for other reasons. If you have never been introduced to it, this is an inside-painted snuff bottle. Yes, the image is painted on the inside of the bottle:

Historians believe that inside-snuff-bottle painting began in the early 1800s. While I didn't delve much into the ancient history of this intriguing art, I did find out some other interesting facts. The snuff bottle was originally used for storing tobacco or snuff (which had particular medicinal properties in Chinese medicine). Some other traditional or ancient forms of Chinese arts include poetry, calligraphy, ceramics and pottery (think Ming dynasty china, with its distinctive blue and white lacquers), engraving or carving (carved jade), glassware, and others. Many snuff bottles incorporate these arts in forms of using poetry in the bottles, the artful painting of characters inside the bottle, porcelain bottles that have been carved, glass bottles, and even bottles made from jade, quartz, agate, and other materials.

At some point, I had a wonderful, glorious vision of how this post was going to turn into a glowing shrine dedicated to the singular and exquisite art of snuff bottle painting. Since then, I feel I've given all of the information you might ever need on snuff bottle painting and feel it adequate to move in for the sake of actually posting this post.

While in China, I found a painting that I bought specifically for .. Well, he-who-shall-not-be-named. After buying this painting for HWSNBN, I was incredibly reluctant to give it away. Bad-news bears, Liz. I had already told this person all about this painting in my unbridled reign of excitement. So, I took the painting to an inside-bottle-painter in Beijing and asked him if he could reproduce it on the inside of a bottle. This was the painting:

 

And this was the bottle...

I know.. Right?!?!?

He put this painting on the back, designed specifically for me..

Well, that's about it. I had some sort of dream about making this like, the best post ever, and now I just want to post something for fear that I might never post again if I don't.

I'm off on vacation to Puerto Rico with the Boy and won't be back (posting) until the first week of February.

Until then..

Happy trails!

- Liz