Description
Chalcedony; the spherical body with a concave mouth and circular foot rim, carved in low relief with two fan-tailed fish, highlighted by dark inclusions, one with a black body, the other with a clear body and black eyes, Official School.
A series of snuff bottles where the eyes of the subject-matter become one of the prime focuses of the design has been designated the ‘Eyeball Agate Group’ by Hugh Moss (Treasury 2, no. 322). On this bottle the eyeballs of the two fish have been particularly skilfully rendered in opposite colours, the black fish with clear eyes and the clear fish with black eyes, perhaps a reference to the Chinese passion for the Yin and Yang principles by which it was believed the universe was governed.
