When the whole Britain is looking forward to the official celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday, a bottle with the Queen's portrait painted on its inside by a Chinese artist was presented here on Wednesday as a special gift.

The six-centimeter high bottle with color portrait of the queen in the front and three Chinese characters of "Kang Er Shou" on the back, which means "Good health and long life", was presented to Peter Field, Vice Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex at a function to mark the signing of declaration of Friendship between the UK China Cultural Association and Brighton City government.

Field, representative of the Queen, was very happy to receive the gift, saying that he wishes that the birthday gift will serve as another symbol of friendship between the two cultures.

The bottle portrait was done by Zhang Zenglou, one of the most prominent artist specializing in snuff bottle painting, known as inside-painting.

Snuff bottle inside-painting is one of the most special Chinese ancient arts, which were also spotted at the "CHINA: The Three Emperors" exhibition held months ago at the Royal Academy of Arts.

While most of the traditional snuff bottles crafts were either carved in jade or painted on the outside of the bottles, Zhang is famous in China and beyond, for his portrait painting on the inside of the bottles, called "inside painting".

Zhang has painted portraits for quite a few VIPs in the world, like Mr. Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese leader and President Bill Clinton of the United States.

The bottle is a great gift for Her Majesty's 80th birthday celebration as "bottle" in Chinese is pronounced "ping", which happens to be the same as "healthy and safe", and the fact that the artist chooses one of the best quality bottle available for the portrait, makes it more auspicious, as "baoping" (treasury bottle), is pronounced just like "safeguarding safety and health" in Chinese.

The Queen's birthday is to be officially celebrated on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua