For a discussion of amber animal and fish bottles see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, vol. II, New York, 1993, pp. 486-487, where the authors suggest that such bottles "may have been inspired by the ancient handling pieces and paperweights (mostly jades and bronze) of the influential minority". They continue, "It is reasonable to assume that animal-shaped, fish-shaped and insect-shaped snuff bottles were a development of the eighteenth century and possibly even the first half....Amber bottles of this group are rarer still than their nephrite counterparts"