A popular story tells how the art of painting snuff bottles originated.  In the Qing Dynasty, an official stopped on his way to a small temple for a rest.  When he took out his crystal snuff bottle to take a sniff, he found it was already empty.  He then scraped off a little powder that had stuck on the interior wall of the bottle by means of a slender bamboo stick, thus leaving lines on the inside, visible through he transparent wall.  A young monk saw him at this and hit upon the idea of making pictures inside the bottle. Thus, a new art form was born.

Whether this story is truth or fiction, interior painting in snuff bottles was born and developed in China and is unique to the country.

The "painting brush" of the snuff bottle artist today is not very different from what the official in the story used at the beginning. It is a slender bamboo stick, not much thicker but much longer than a match. The tip is shaped like a fine-pointed hook. Dipped in colored ink and thrust inside the bottle, the hooked tip is used to paint on the interior surfaces of the walls, following the will of the painter.

The art became perfected and flourished toward the end of the Qing Dynasty at the turn of the century. Curio dealers began to offer good prices to collect them. 

Snuff bottles are small, generally no more than 6-7 centimeters high and 4-5 centimeters wide, yet the accomplished artist can produce, on the limited space of the internal surfaces, any subject running the whole gamut of traditional Chinese painting – human portraits, landscapes, flowers and birds and calligraphy. It is said that each artist puts a his or her soul inside one single bottle!

We invite you to visit Man-U Imports to see these unique and collectible art pieces. The production of these snuff bottles is becoming a lost art. Our collection includes every possible motif – scenery, birds and trees, beautiful women and domestic and wild animals.