Hengshui interior painting: A big world sketched inside a small bottle

Hengshui interior painting is a painting technique on the inner wall of snuff bottles in Hengshui city, Hebei province. Using a special paintbrush, artists paint the inside of a bottle through its narrow mouth, incorporating the entire process of composition, delineation, wrinkle-removal and coloring.

Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to contain powdered tobacco. With delicate carvings on the surface or painting inside, snuff bottles are now popular as artifacts for collections. In 2006, Hengshui interior painting was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in China.