Month: April 2025

Five tigers Chinese inside-painted glass ball

Item description / significance
This is an inside-painted (inner-painted, reverse painted) glass ball depicting five tigers.

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app (from a seller in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, northern China)

Age and origin
Painted in 1992, according to the inscription, probably Hengshui, Hebei Province, in northern China

What I like about it
The facial expression of the tiger looking at the viewer is what sold me! I also like the fact that there are five tigers, and one is white. And of course, the quality of the painting (the level of detail) is high.

See below for photos of this sphere, including photos from the seller.

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Exposed (2016)

This was advertised as a Keanu Reeves movie, but he’s not really the main character. The movie’s original title, “Daughter of God,” better reflects the fact that the movie is mainly about a young Catholic Spanish-speaking woman who has a strange experience late at night on a subway platform and starts seeing angels.

The movie turns out to be about rape and child abuse, not, as the standard summary claims, “police corruption.” So it was very heavy, with one particularly disturbing scene. You could argue that the movie has a happy ending, but the net effect of watching this movie was definitely the opposite of happiness. I would unwatch it if I could.

Incidentally, this movie is an interesting case of the use of unreliable narration in film. If it weren’t so disturbing, I’d want to watch it again and look for clues that what we’re shown initially isn’t what happened. It’s clever. But I hate the story.

Journey to the West Chinese inside-painted glass ball

Item description / significance
This is an inner painted (inside painted, reverse painted) glass ball depicting the character of Monkey from the beloved Chinese classic Journey to the West. It is an adaptation of one of the “Havoc in Heaven” series of 8 paintings by Liu Jiyou. In this painting, Monkey has escaped from a furnace.

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app (from a seller in Nanjing, Jiangsu, eastern China)

Age and origin
Painted in 1996, according to the inscription, probably Hengshui, Hebei Province, in northern China

What I like about it
What attracted me is the quality of the painting (the level of detail)—and the low price, to be honest! Now that I am more familiar with the Liu Jiyou paintings, I like it more than I did originally.

Other notes
The seller also sent a tassel with an inside-painted hulu gourd on a tassel:

See below for information about the inscription and the painting this adaptation was based on, as well as photos of the sphere, including photos from the seller.

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12 Chinese zodiac animals inside-painted glass ball

Item description / significance
This is an inside-painted (inner-painted, reverse painted) glass ball depicting the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig).

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app (from a seller in Yingkou, Liaoning, northeast China)

Age and origin
Painted in 1996, according to the inscription, probably Hengshui, Hebei Province, in northern China

What I like about it
What attracted me is that the quality of the painting (the level of detail) is high, and the fact that the subject matter is the 12 zodiac animals. Many inside-painted balls are similar to each other (there are lots depicting the Qingming festival, for example), but this is one of only two I have ever found of the zodiac animals, and the other one is not, shall we say, an attractive quality level. (See for yourself.)

See below for information about the inscription, the Chinese characters that accompany the animals, and photos of this sphere, including photos from the seller.

Continue reading 12 Chinese zodiac animals inside-painted glass ball

Big Qingming Festival Chinese inside-painted glass ball

Item description / significance
This is an inside-painted (inner-painted, reverse painted) glass ball depicting an adaptation of the Song dynasty handscroll painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.”

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app (from a seller in Beijing)

Age and origin
Painted in 2000, according to the inscription, probably in Hengshui, Hebei Province, in northern China

What I like about it
What attracted me is that the quality of the painting (the level of detail) is high. Also, the seller discounted the price, haha. But, get this: I have another inside-painted glass ball depicting this same scroll, and it was painted by the same guy!!! This one was painted 8 years later, has more detail, and (I think) is bigger.

See below for more photos of this sphere and the other one I bought before, photos from the seller, and photos of other spherical renditions of this painting.

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Two wood bears

Item description / significance
These are two small painted carved wooden bears, one white, one black.

Both were described as hand-carved, but I’m a little suspicious about that. The listing for the white bear said it’s made from beechwood.

Bought where
in China on Xianyu, the Chinese second-hand marketplace app

Age and origin
New!

What I like about them
The lifelike poses. I’m not an expert on bears, and these are a little abstract, but they still seem to contain an accurate kind of bear spirit somehow. These bears seem friendly and curious. (I would not approach a “friendly and curious” bear in real life!)

Other notes

So apparently now I have a collection of 3 wooden bears, including the Japanese bear I bought in Longquan, Zhejiang, China.

See below for more photos of these two, including photos from the sellers.

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