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Ching Dynasty. Late 19th Century. A Chinese gourd cricket cage depicting in molded relief an unusual arrangement of horses interspersed with rocks, mountains and a tree with a narrow border of faintly etched or incised key-fret design on the upper neck below the lid. The cage is of traditional form fitted with a wooden collar and a removable lid pierced with seven small circular openings trimmed in bone or ivory and screened on the inside, the lid and collar fashioned from a dark, tightly-grained hardwood with reddish undertones. The gourd has an excellent patina and is without splits or cracks. The assembled cricket cage measures 11.5cm (4.5”) long. There is a very old and widespread tradition throughout Asia of growing gourds into molds to form all manner of vessels. (See, for instance, Trocadero Item 594687 in this catalog for a molded gourd snuff bottle from Afghanistan.) The Chinese have long produced gourd-molded vases and seem to have advanced the technique and complexity of the molds during the Ching Dynasty. The first gourd molded cricket cages were made as imperial playthings, but became widely popular in the late 19th Century. Copyright 2009 by Robert McCaffrey for RuyiStudio San Francisco. All Rights Reserved.
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