Reverse painting on glass is an art form consisting of applying paint to a piece of glass and then viewing the image by turning the glass over and looking through the glass at the image. Chinese 'back-painting' (painting an image in reverse on the back of a plain sheet of glass was a skill recognized and admired by European writers in the 18th century, according to the French social commentator Amiot, writing about the customs and crafts of China in 1786, but not described or documented in detail. Very few of the many extant examples can be confidently dated with any precision by association with a recorded and datable visit to Canton. There is a general belief that the genre of painting on the back of glass sheets was an inspired and practical Chinese response to a frustrating circumstance. During the middle decades of the 18thC English merchants sought vainly for British products which the Chinese would accept in payment for China's bulk expensive exports of teas, spices and silks. 

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