Description

Chinese antique carving of gourds, made from agate. Gourds are interesting because they have many special meanings to the Chinese. The Chinese would scoop the insides clean and use the hard outer shell as a bottle for medicines, wine, and elixirs. The vines of a bottle-gourd are pronounced as “man” or “wan”, which also means “10,000” in Chinese. Because the plant has many seeds, it was symbolic for fertility (10,000 seeds/children). Additionally, gourds resemble the number 8, which was considered to be good luck. 19th century

Size: 1.5″ long, 3/4″ tall