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Painting Inside |
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Snuff comes to China Snuff is a kind of pharmaceutical preparation which the perfect ground tobacco powder is put into some rare medicinal Herb's-musk, etc. and sealed them into the wax pills and then staled for several different kinds of color, such as dark purple, deep yellow, pale yellow and so on. It tastes mellow and sharp . It is said that it can make eyes bright, refresh, exorcise epidemic disease, invigorate the circulation of blood. In the years of Wanli (Qing Dynasty), tobacco was circulated from America, Luzon to Fujian Province in China.
At the late 16th century the custom of tobacco-leave smoking and snuffing was spread from the Philippines to Japan by Portuguese and Spanish sailors, traders , missionaries. Tobacco was planted in the Japanese Imperial Garden and in the southern coastal trade ports. At the beginning of 17th century smoking is very popular in the upper-class, just like the tea, as an symbol of respecting guests. Then it spread to the Northeast China and Korea. Snuffing soon became a custom there. At the same time, Russia businessmen took tobacco, snuff and snuff boxes down to Northeast China and Inner-Mongolia.
Here*s an legend of its origin. In the late years of Qianlong (a Qing Dynasty), an official went to Beijing for business and then addicted to snuff. With his business failed and all money running out of him, he had to lodge in a poor temple. Due to the snuffing addiction and with no money to buy it, he digged the remainder on the inside surface by a smoke-pick. As a result he drew many marks in it. Later a Buddhist monk saw this and got an inspiration. He then digged a picture of bamboo with hook inside the surface of a transparent bottle. This may be how the inside-painting snuff bottle occurs. How is a inside painting snuff bottle made? At the beginning painter painted on the inside surface of the transparent glass or crystal snuff bottle. Since the surface is smooth and uneasy to be described, only simple pictures , for example, katydids, cabbage, landscape, were completed. Then the bottle is filled with iron sand and emery, shaken and robbed as rough as Xuan Paper. Next , fine pictures, such as the figures, flowers, birds are painted. All work should be done with great care. Development of Chinese inside painting snuff bottle and Hebei School Inside Painting
Chinese snuff bottle is called the epitome of Chinese arts ,such as
painting, calligraphy, carving, inlaying, handicrafts, ceramics,
glassware, enamel, etc. And it is. It really is. This is why Chinese
snuff bottle is well-known all over the world for years. It is
said that it was emerged between the years of Qianlong and Jiaqing (two
Qing Dynasties), so it has been a kind of Chinese art for 200 years. During the Qing Dynasty, bottles were mainly made out of Guangzhou, Beijing, Boshan (in Shandong Province), Inner-Mongolia, Liaoning Province and Tibet. Inner-Mongolia famous for its silver snuff bottles, and Liaoning for agate ones, and Tibet metal ones. To make an inside painting bottle, painter must work on the rubbed inside surface throughout the mouth of a bottle. Fine pictures are painted. It looks magnificent and smooth and so gains much admiration. In Europe is fairly expensive. From the years of Guangxu to early 20th century, the art of inside painting reached its prosperity. The painting subjects are very wide and many highly-skilled painters occurred. The most famous were: Zhou Leyuan, Ma Shaoxuan, Ding Zrzhong, Ye Zhongsan, Bi Longjiu, Zhang Wentang and Xue Jingwan.
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Legend
of Chinese inside painting snuff bottle