Message #39095

[Wattana]

Dear Giovanni,

The technique of gourd moulding has been known in China for many centuries. It is most commonly seen on old cricket cages, but because snuff bottles interest me more than insect cages, I can only compare with other snuff bottles I have seen over the last 40 years. The failure rate was very high during the Qing dynasty, so they were much treasured, despite the humble nature of the material. Even the best ones, some of which are in the Imperial museum collections in Taipei and Beijing, do not have the level of crispness seen on this new bottle. From this I would agree with you that there are some new tricks being used to create bottles of this quality.

Tom