Reverse-Painted Globes: Beautiful Chinese Art Globes

The artists in China make some incredible reverse-painted globes. To make a reverse-painted globe, the artist takes a crystal ball and hollows it out to form a void in the shape of perfect sphere within the crystal ball. The artist then uses long, curved paintbrushes to reach through a small hole in the bottom of the crystal ball to paint the inside. After hours of painstaking artistry, a fascinating piece emerges that looks like a hand-painted globe encased in perfectly seamless crystal.

These globes come in two basic styles. The most common type is modeled after scholastic globes. The more rare type is modeled after the Earth’s natural appearance.