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The modern
inside-painting dates back over 200 years, during the period of
the Qing Dynasty in China. Its origin is traced to the usage of “snuff”,
a combination of ground tobacco powder, herbs and oil that was kept inside
small ornate bottles. Varied greatly in shape, materials and design,
many treasured snuff bottles were highly ornate with intricate carvings,
paintings and patterns. Emerging from this medium was a new technique
that saw artists painting on the inside surface of the bottle, in a sense,
creating a reverse-painted bottle. Since the glass surface that was holding
the paint was also holding the snuff, these inside-painted snuff bottles
ceased being utilitarian objects, but remain popular as collectables
and commissioned gifts. After the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, a
small number of dedicated artists continued with their craft. After 1949,
the government gathered several of these top artists and setup instructional
schools in order to preserve this valuable knowledge and skill.
Unfortunately with economic progress, inside-painting has become
a small cottage industry with a primary focus on tourist tchotchkes
and Western Christmas ornaments for export. As a result, quality
has deteriorated dramatically and the number of true masters in
this genre has dwindled
down to only a handful of faithful practitioners. The fact is,
nearly
90% of the products being touted as “inside-painting” in
the marketplace are actually “mass productions”. They use
techniques such as photographic imprinting and decaling to create
an outline, and then it is distributed to young laborers who would
simply paint inside the lines with set colors, similar to that
of a coloring book. Difficult to discern to the untrained eye,
these imitations
are
inexpensive to produce and require only minutes to create.
Archelan Studios is dedicated to not only preserving this wonderful art
form, but we are passionate about elevating it to a new standard
of excellence in terms of sophistication, refinement and quality.
We look forward to creating and defining a new and exciting chapter
in the annals of crystal glass inside-painted art.
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