What is the China inner painting?

Inner painting (simplified Chinese: 内画; traditional Chinese: 內畫; pinyin: nèihuà) also known as inner drawing or inside painted, is a Chinese art form. It involves glass bottles which have pictures and often calligraphy painted on the inside surface of the glass. The bottles are produced by manipulating a specialized paint brush through the neck of the bottle.

Inside-painted bottles are associated with Chinese snuff bottles. The earliest inside painted Inside-pained bottles are thought to have been made in the period between 1820 and 1830(Qing Dynasty) as, by then, the beauty of a snuff bottle was probably more important than utilitarian considerations—-and considering this—few would have been used for holding snuff.

To paint the inside of the bottle, the artist must paint backwards. Concentration is crucial to make precise strokes. A skilled artist may complete a simple bottle in a week while something special may take a month or more. The best craftsmen will produce only a few bottles in a year.