In addition, snuff bottles were often presented as gifts among members of the upper classes and to visiting dignitaries on special occasions. For instance, the Emperor Kangxi once sent snuff bottles in return as gifts to the imperial envoys of the Russian tsar Peter the Great in 1719.

 Painted on the inside

People tend to classify snuff bottles into different categories by material and craftmanship. Skill-wise, the inside-painted snuff bottles deserve more ink here because of their artistic exquisiteness and enduring popularity. The snuff bottles with the images the Queen Elisabeth II and the 40 American presidents were painted inside, both fall into this category.

The art of interior painting in these palm-sized containers was born in China. The invention of this art was said to be quite accidental. Legend has it that when a snuff-addicted Qing official stopped at a small temple for a rest, he used a slender bamboo stick to scrape the remaining tobacco powder off the interior surface of his empty snuff bottle, leaving lines inside. A young monk happened to see him at this, and the idea came to him to make pictures inside the snuff bottles. Thus a new art form appeared.

It's true that painting inside the snuff bottles requires highly skilled craftsmanship. A transparent or translucent material such as glass or crystal was ideal to make sure the inside painting or inscriptions are visible from outside. Preparation is important in that the interior surface of a bottle should be tough enough to make the painting adherent. Because of the narrow opening and neck of a snuff bottle, a thin bamboo stick with a hooked tip is an ideal "painting brush". If reaching down through the opening, which is too narrow to let in a small pea bean isn't difficult enough, the painter has to paint the objects in reverse-the "reverse" of how typical painters work. Great patience is needed. Sometimes the painter has to hold his breath before finishing a part of the painting to ensure neat work.

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