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Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Big View From A Small Place
The inextricable difficulties in painting reversely through the narrow
opening once generated various speculations on how this exquisite artwork was
produced. Some imagined that the painting brush might be a hair and it would
take half a year to paint one bottle; some even guessed that it was done by
those with supernatural abilities; and some people in the present day even
believe the bottle is cut into halves, painted and put back together.
However incredible it was, this art was developed by some masters towards the
end of the Qing Dynasty. The lives of these masters were even taken as the basis
of novels. In the novel "Snuff Bottle" written by Deng Youmei, a high-ranking
Qing official intentionally puts a skilled artist Nie Xiaoxuan into jail, only
to prevent him from creating these snuff bottles for others. Nie is a patriotic
artist. When asked to produce snuff bottles with a painting depicting the scene
of the Eight Allied Powers invading China in the 1900s, he destroys his hands
himself, believing that it a shame to please the foreign invaders.
Snuff is not popular any more in today's China except among the nomadic
Mongols and Tibetans. Snuff bottles are appreciated as rare artworks in China
and across the globe. The tradition of making exquisite snuff bottles has been
passed down, and many contemporary craftsmen are trained by descendants or
students of the masters of this art form.
Author: Lency
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