Since snuff was introduced into China, it was very popular in the upper class in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the production of snuff bottles also developed. During the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, the production of snuff bottles was in its heyday, with exquisite craftsmanship and various varieties. Craftsmen have been striving for originality and beauty in the decoration of snuff bottles. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing artists pioneered the painting technology of snuff bottles. Since then, the production of snuff bottles has entered the so-called "inner painting pot era" in the West. Inner painting is a kind of arts and crafts with unique techniques. It is made by sharpening and bending one end of a bamboo stick, making it into a hook-shaped thin bamboo pen, dipping it in pigment, reaching into the pot from the bottle mouth and painting on a square inch wall. When drawing, you can neither draft nor alter it. A painter must be clear-headed and skilled. Therefore, once the inner painting appeared, it caused a sensation in society. During the Guangxu period, Boshan businessmen went to Beijing to do business and brought back the techniques of internal painting. Boshan folk artists Bi Rongjiu, Xue and Sun Tampu studied hard, not only quickly mastered the techniques of internal painting, but also gradually formed the Shandong Painting School in the field of internal painting, which is as famous as the Beijing School. Bi Rongjiu's snuff bottle was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi in Qing Dynasty because of its unique production, exquisite painting and strong interest, and was listed as one of the palace supplies. It is quite true that the children of these three old artists, such as Bi Huaiyuan and Xue Jingwan, all inherited their father's footsteps. However, due to the turbulent situation, the snuff bottle industry declined, the sales of snuff bottles were very small, and the painting skills were on the verge of despair.

The origin of the snuff bottle with internal painting

Painting snuff bottles inside is a traditional folk craft of Han nationality. In the 1960s, there appeared three schools of internal painting art: Beijing School in Beijing, Shandong School in Shandong, and Yaojiang School in Guangdong.

Painted snuff bottle is a kind of snuff bottle, which is a new technology that emerged after more than 200 years of development in China. However, as soon as the snuff bottle with internal painting came out, it immediately dominated the snuff bottle art world with its unique artistic expression. After the prosperous period of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, like the feudal dynasty, the feudal art gradually declined and disappeared, and suddenly emerged, adding infinite vitality to the lifeless and unremarkable art field in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. Painting snuff bottles inside is a unique art form of snuff bottles. Although the snuff bottle was fascinating and infatuated before the appearance of the internal painting snuff bottle, people's pursuit of artistic appreciation is endless. People hope to see more exquisite snuff bottles with higher artistic appreciation value, and the internal painting snuff bottle is the result of this artistic pursuit. After the unremitting exploration of snuff bottle craftsmen, a new and more popular craft variety-internal painting pot was finally created during the Daoguang period of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty.

Related legends

There is also an interesting legend about the appearance of the snuff bottle with internal painting: it is said that in the late Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a ruined literati in Beijing who lived in a ruined temple and lived in poverty. But he was addicted to snuff and couldn't bear it, so he found out the glass snuff bottle he had used in the past. Use a cigarette spoon to find the snuff stuck to the inner wall of the hookah and satisfy its desire. Over time, it left a texture on the inner wall of the hookah. The monks in the temple were inspired by this despicable behavior. When he was convenient for chanting and meditating, he dipped a curved bamboo stick in colored dye, put it in a transparent plain glass snuff bottle and painted on the inner wall, thus inventing the internal painting snuff bottle.

However, according to the research of Hong Kong snuff bottle researcher Mr. Liang Zhihang, the internal painting snuff bottle was invented by a young painter in southern China during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty (see Liang Zhihang's "The New Face of Internal Painting Snuff Bottle in China"). The young painter's name is Gan Huan. He poured small steel balls, quartz sand and a small amount of water into the pot and shook it back and forth, so that the inner wall of the pot was ground with a layer of fine lines, and ink and pigment were easily attached. Then dip the pot color with a curved bamboo pen; The interior wall is painted backwards. According to Mr Xu Moshi's textual research, Gan Huan's real name is Gan. His paintings of snuff bottles have a wide range of themes, mainly ink and wash, with plain colors as the lining. His early works were signed by Gan Huan, and later some were signed by Gan, such as laity, Mid-Levels, Yunfeng and Huan Wen firewood. According to textual research, Gan Huan's earliest works were written in 18 16, and he wrote them in 1860 for some reason.

hypothesis

There are two basic conditions for creating snuff bottles with internal paintings: first, choose transparent and clean raw materials, such as crystal, glass, tea crystal, Hu 66 and light-colored transparent beans; Secondly, we should master and use back painting techniques skillfully. As for the raw materials, before Jiaqing and Daoguang, the snuff bottles made in China used a lot of crystals, glass, tea crystals, amber and agate. Many snuff bottles are made so that people can clearly see the contents of the bottles at a glance. As for back painting, its historical origin can also be found in our country. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. There is a kind of seal in China, that is, on the printed matter, the seal is engraved with the reverse character, so that when the clock comes out, it is the orthography. Others think that interior painting should originate from the back of Europe. /kloc-in the 6th century, glass painting appeared in Europe, and the works created by this painting form became the most important decorative works in court churches and cathedrals at that time. Back painting is a kind of glass painting, which was invented by Italian and British painters. The technique of back painting is different from painting on canvas and wood. It must be painted in a transparent or translucent texture on the back, so that people can see the correct image on the front. According to 1950 published in London, England, the18th century works of art exported from China (Jurdan M. Jourdain) ... introduced the back painting techniques in Europe at that time, which influenced the Qing court and Guangzhou. This may have been spread by some western missionaries in China at that time. The glass paintings made by Lang Shining and other western painters in the Palace Museum are painted by the back technique. The makers of snuff bottles in China may have benefited from the back painting technology and created the art of painting snuff bottles inside.

How the snuff bottle was produced in the competition is still inconclusive. Anyway. From the day it was born, the painted snuff bottle firmly grasped the users' hearts, deeply influenced the development of China snuff bottle, and greatly admired by foreign users, collectors and appreciators.

History of Boshan glass feeder

Zibo art glass is also called "feeder". It is the general name of all kinds of handicraft crystals made of glass strips that Boshan is rich in.

According to legend, as far back as the Western Zhou Dynasty, when slaves were smelting copper, they found a crystal-clear object, which was brittle and hard after cooling. Because of its strange shape, people call it "colored glass". During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1573- 16 19), there were stoves everywhere in Boshan, which was unprecedented. In the Qing Dynasty, special institutions were generally set up here to make glass feeders for the palace. In the middle of Qing Dynasty, Boshan glass feeder not only sold well in the domestic market, but also exported from Qingdao by sea and sold abroad, with an annual output of more than 7,000 tons. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1662- 1722), when a glass kiln was built in Beijing, people were sent to Boshan to hire craftsmen, and Boshan also supplied the bars and pot blanks needed to produce glass products.

So far, there are more than 2500 colors. Glass carving, glass flower balls, glass beads and glass hanging screens are deeply loved by Chinese and foreign people. Among them, the colored glazed flower ball was created in the late Qing Dynasty. It is made of melted glass into ingredients such as flowers, leaves, petals, fish, insects, etc., then it is paved with bottom material, and the above accessories are embedded in it according to the design pattern, then it is wrapped with softened crystal material, melted into the required shape, and finally polished and cooled to become the finished product. Boshan glass sculptures are mostly landscapes, flowers, figures, birds and animals, and the products are bowls, plates, bottles, lamps and so on.

Because the feeder itself is crystal clear and moist, it has the texture of jade material. "Chicken oil yellow", also known as "topaz", is bright in color, radiant and bright in yellow, just like chicken oil. Vases and other things made of it are like exquisite jade carvings.