The inside-painted snuff bottle is a traditional craft unique to China. It has been a brilliant pearl in the hall of Chinese art for nearly two hundred years, since the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. The inside-painted snuff bottles were created in Beijing, which were owned by the aristocrats and high-ranking officials at that time. Ye Zhongsan, one of the "Four Great Masters of Inside-Painting in the Capital" (along with Ma Shaoxuan, Zhou Leyuan, and Wu Chang'an) during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China period, was known as the founder of the modern "Beijing" and "Hebei" schools of inside painting. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Institute of Arts and Crafts was established in Beijing, and there was a clear teacher-apprentice lineage for the inside painting. At present, there are four major schools in China, namely "Beijing School," "Hebei School," "Shandong School," and "Guangdong School."

(Note: Content source is from inBeijing.cn.)