World Expo and Chinese Culture – Snuff Bottle from Qing Dynasty

Snuff bottle has been an exotic goods, it was taken to China by Italian missionary during the Ming Dynasty. However, after face-lift via Chinese traditional art, later with the production and painting technologies become more and more sophisticated increasingly, snuff bottle become a symbol of identity and taste in the socitey. Both at the London Expo held in 1862 and Panama Expo held in 1915, Chinese snuff bottles won special medals.

Original snuff bottles from the Qing period are a desirable target for serious collectors and museums. A good bottle has an extra quality over and above its exquisite beauty and value: that is touch. Snuff bottles were made to be held and so, as a rule, they have a wonderful tactile quality.



Snuff bottles were made out of many different materials including porcelain, jade, ivory, wood, tortoiseshell, metal and ceramic, though probably the most commonly used material was glass.

The snuff bottle winning prizes at World Expo is an inside-painted snuff bottle. The so-called inside-painting, namely use a specific fine brush, painted exquisite picture inside the snuff bottle by hand.




The class of bottle that arouses most interest is that known as inside painted. These are glass bottles which have pictures and often calligraphy painted on the inside surface of the glass.These delightful scenes are only an inch or two high and are painted while manipulating the brush through the neck of the bottle.

There still has production of inside-painted snuff bottles today, as a pure artwork, snuff bottles had been wiped off its original practical value. While the workmanship of inside hand painting has passed on from generation to generation, and become an essence of traditional Chinese art.

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Time-Honored Chinese Paper Cutting Art (II)

Chinese paper-cut work: Fu

Paper-cut is a type of cutting art, as well as the most popular folk art in China, paper-cut can give people visual space through feelings and artistic enjoyment, whose carrier can be paper, gold foil, bark, leaves, cloth, skin, leather and other sheet-like materials.

Chinese paper-cut work: Have a surplus every year

* History of Chinese pape-cut: The folk paper-cut handicraft in China has its own process of formation and development, the great invention of paper in China was finished in the Western Han Dynasty in the BC era (6th century BC), before this time there is no base for the production of paper-cut art, but at that time people applied with flake materials, and through carving techniques to make handicrafts, but these art forms has been popular before the invention of paper, namely at that time with techniques of carving, engraving, picking and cutting people were able to applied to cut patterns on gold foils, leather, silk fabric and even in leaves…

Chinese paper-cut work: Cattle

The earliest China's artwork of paper-cut are two anthocephalus flower paper-cuts, which were discovered by Chinese archaeologists in tombs of ancient north Astana near Gaochang ruins in China Xinjiang Turpan Basin in 1967, these two paper-cuts are both made of linen paper, and all are folded fete paper-cuts, and the discovery has provided practical evidence for the formation of Chinese paper-cut.

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Lacquer Ware – An Art Flower Blossoming in Traditional Chinese Culture I

Household utensils, handicrafts, artwork covering with paints and varnishes on the surface are commonly been known as "lacquer." Raw lacquer is a natural juice extracted from the lacquer tree, primarily made up of urushiol, laccase, tree resin and water. Use it as a type of paint, due to its resistance to moisture, high temperature, corrosion and other special functions, at the same time it can be prepared into a variety of color paint, shiny and radiant.

In China, people began to learn the special performance of paint from the Neolithic times and use it to make utensils. As go through the Shang and Zhou dynasties until the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chinese lacquer crafts developed continuously, and has reached to a very high level. Chinese Qiang Gilding and Describing Gilding lacquer crafts, has incurred great impacts in Japan and other countries. Lacquer ware is one of important inventions in fields of chemical techniques and industrial arts in China.

Lacquer ware has a long history in China, according to related records of some documents, lacquer were been used by people initially in the Xia and Yu's era as early as more than 4200 years ago, which become more developed in the Warring States Period. In the Han dynasty, lacquer ware were been applied with common household utensils, and become popular increasingly. In the Tang Dynasty the physical production of lacquer ware also had achieved a marked development. After the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty, the methods of lacquer-making had developed into more than 20 kinds.

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* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China

Time-Honored Chinese Paper Cutting Art (I)

Paper-cutting, also known as cut paper, paper-cut for window decoration, or picture cutting, the difference between which is some with scissors, some with knife, and some with chisels, although the tools are different, but the created art works are basically same, and people call it paper-cutting collectively.



Chinese paper-cutting is one of the most popular traditional decorative art styles in China, has a long history. For its material is easy to get and low-cost, the finished work of which can be seen immediately. and to be adapted widely, as well as varied styles & common and lively images, the Chinese paper-cutting is welcomed by most of people in China, more because it is a handwork job that most suitable for rural women to do in spare time, it not only could used as for practical objects, but also to beautify the living. Paper-cut can be seen all over the country, and even has formed different art styles in different areas.

Paper-cutting not only has represented masses’ aesthetic interest, but also indicated the nation's social deep psychology, it is one of the most Chinese featured folk art styles, in particular its design features is worth studying.


As a manifestation of the Chinese origin philosophy, the expression forms of Folk paper-cutting performed comprehensive, as well as conveys beauty and good fortune, at the same time, with its own special expression language, the folk paper-cutting conveyed the connotations and essence of traditional culture.

On May 20, 2006, the paper cutting art was admitted by the State Council to list in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Directory. On June 8, 2007, Shanghai Li Shoubai Paper-Cut Masters Studio achieved the first cultural heritage gold prize awarded by the National Ministry of Culture.


Paper cutting can be divided into single color paper-cut and combined color paper-cut from color, and paper-cut that been cut by a single color paper called single color paper-cut, it just like the single-color wood carving in carving pictures, it is the most usual form, this type or paper-cut works seemed very simple and style in good taste, while the combined-color paper-cut are works cut from papers in different colors, this type of form are unusual, and this type of art works looked very vivid and lively.

* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China