Painting inside vessels refers to the craft as is used to draw decorative pictures on inside walls of the vessels, which are made of transparent material usually with a tiny mouth.
Beijing is the birthplace of painting inside the vessels, which emerged during the reigns of Jiaqing and Daoguang, in Qing Dynasty about 200 years ago. The craft was firstly applied in the making of snuff bottles.
The craft of inside painting can be divided into such procedures as selection of body, painting etc. It is different from ordinary painting, and the direction of the brush is just contrary to painting on the paper, and the craftsmen have to get over the restrictions of the tiny mouth of the vessel on use of brush. So, it is really a kind of painting with high artistic values.