Lot Essay
The characters may be translated as: "Splendid sounds are agreeable to the ear"
Gourd objects like this were formed by placing a wooden mold around the young gourd and allowing the natural growth within these confines to form the shape and decoration. All the decoration is a mirror image of the carved decoration within the mold. The earliest known use of such a technique appears to date to the Warring States period (480-221 BC). A mouthpiece for a musical instrument was found in a Chu tomb in Changsha, Hunan province. Though 16th century texts attest to the gourd-molding technique, the earliest extant examples appear to date to the reign of Kangxi
Gourd objects like this were formed by placing a wooden mold around the young gourd and allowing the natural growth within these confines to form the shape and decoration. All the decoration is a mirror image of the carved decoration within the mold. The earliest known use of such a technique appears to date to the Warring States period (480-221 BC). A mouthpiece for a musical instrument was found in a Chu tomb in Changsha, Hunan province. Though 16th century texts attest to the gourd-molding technique, the earliest extant examples appear to date to the reign of Kangxi