18th/19th century
Each gourd has a globular body with a broad waisted neck flaring towards the thick ivory-bound rim.
The larger one is finely engraved and intricately carved around the exterior with the Eighteen Lohan below the four characters shiba lehan 十八羅漢 (eighteen Lohan), each showing them in their characteristic pose and holding their attributes or seated with their animals, one with a tiger (Pindola) and one with a dragon wrapped around his body(Nantimitolo). The wooden bulbous cover surmounted by an ivory top is finely carved in openwork with a scene of many figures near a pavilion amongst prunus branches and willow.
Height 12 cm
The second one is finely incised and engraved with a ferocious five-clawed dragon emerging from a dense ground of billowing clouds while chasing the flaming pearl, the eyes picked out in black.
The ivory domed cover is finely carved and pierced with a deer and crane near pine on a star-shaped openwork ground.
Height 11.5 cm
Provenance: Mr Carl Barkman, former Dutch diplomat in China in the 1960s
For more than 1000 years crickets have been kept in China as pets, first for their 'songs', later for cricket fights which was a pastime pursued by people of various classes. Crickets are important in Chinese tradition as they symbolise happiness and longevity.
Growing moulded gourds destined to become cricket homes was an exclusive monopoly of the Forbidden City. The flowers are forced into moulds, and while growing they will take the shape of the moulds. Gradually, it became a pastime for common people and literati to catch crickets in the wild or purchase them in markets or from itinerant peddlers. Apart from simple cages made of bamboo or covered pottery jars, specially fashioned gourds, often engraved with a needle, and with perforated covers, as shown with the two present examples, became popular for use in autumn and winter.
Because of the interest of emperors and literati, cricket cages were elevated to an art form and were often regarded as status symbols.
十八/十九世紀 葫蘆嵌象牙蟋蟀罐 兩件
時代：18/19世紀
特徵：器身以葫蘆製成，侈口，斂頸，碩腹，斂底，罐蓋以象牙雕成。較大件器身雕「十八羅漢」四字，周身雕十八羅漢，包括降龍羅漢與伏虎羅漢，雕工精美細緻。象牙蓋面鏤空雕梅花與柳樹環繞的庭園人物場景。較小件雕一五爪龍，神態威猛，自翻滾雲海中騰躍而出，追逐火珠。象牙圓頂蓋細緻鏤雕星形地上一株松樹與鹿鶴相伴。
尺寸：高11.5公分
來源：Mr. Carl Barkman，荷蘭1960年代駐中國外交官
