A RARE INCISED GOURD SNUFF BOTTLE,Signed Wentong, Beijing, 1860 - 1910 Formed from a natural double-gourd with bone cylinder neck, incised on both bulbs with various deities and legendary figures with inscriptions identifying the scenes on the upper bulb as 'spirit of the wind' and 'fisherman at sea', and those on the lower bulb as two luohan and with the signature 'carved at the capital by Wentong'; stopper. 3in (7.7cm) high 1860-1910 天然葫蘆陰刻人物鼻烟壺 《文通》款 北京 Provenance: Unidentified mainland Chinese source, Jinanfu, Shandong Province, 1926 The Ko Collection, 1998 Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd. The J & J Collection Christie's New York, Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the J & J Collection, Part IV, 22 March 2007, lot 83 Exhibited: International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria, New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 124 Gourds have been used since the earliest of times in many cultures as natural containers. Growing in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, the dried rind of the fruit bes a very light, impervious container which, if the mouth is kept narrow, can be easily stoppered and made air-tight. The gourd symbolizes fertility and good fortune and here is an appropriate form given the Daoist nature of the engraving around this bottle. For an unadorned gourd snuff bottle in the Palace collection, see Snuff Bottles in the National Palace Museum , with an introduction by Chang Lin-sheng, Taipei, 1991, p. 270, no. 413. For a discussion of the relatively rare use of engraved decoration on gourd bottles, more typical of the late Qing engraving encountered on glass and porcelain bottles, see Christie's, 22 March 2007, lot 83. The slim bone neck is an elegant touch and typical of Palace gourd wares.