Glass snuff bottles painted on the inside are among the most treasured items in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The one pictured is about 2 inches high and one inch wide, and decorated on the inside with a polychrome illustration done by the reverse painting technique through an opening only a quarter of an inch wide. Only a few craftsmen were capable of such work.
To prepare the bottles for painting, diamond sand and small steel balls were placed inside and shaken for several hours to scratch the surface of the glass, a process which allowed the paint to adhere. Artists used a bamboo pen or an animal hairbrush. During the painting process, the bottle was held upside down to capture as much light as possible, and sometimes a mirror was used to provide further illumination.
It takes at least a week to complete an ordinary snuff bottle, and up to a month for an exquisite type. A single craftsman, therefore, could only produce a few such bottles a year.
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