Exceptional-Quality Antique Non-Armorial Chinese Mother-of-pearl Gambling Chip

Description: This antique non-armorial Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling chip is an exceptionally detailed miniature artwork (sometimes referred to as a “gaming counter,” or “loo chip),” hand-carved from oyster shell (i.e., mother-of-pearl) by incredibly talented Chinese craftsmen, and used for gambling and or gaming, in conjunction with the games of Loo, Quadrille, and Hombre--private (“in-home”) card games very much in vogue during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. This chip dates from c. 1800. Mother-of-pearl chips were components of gaming sets, consisting of one or more packs of cards and from six to one hundred and twenty gambling tokens (depending on the specific games for which the set was intended). The game of Loo (which is still played in a few parts of the United States and Britain), for example, involves from three to eight players, utilizes a single fifty-two-card deck, and shows various similarities to modern-day five-card stud Poker. Gambling tokens were contained in ornamental boxes-- themselves often of great beauty. The storage boxes for the gaming chips carved during the Eighteenth Century were often of an exquisite lacquer design, with inner compartments matching the various shapes of the chips. For gambling purposes, various sizes and shapes of chips represented differing monetary denominations, and were utilized in much the same manner as our more familiar Poker chips. A set might include several sizes of square, rectangular, oval, oblong, round, and fish-shaped pieces. Often appearing on one side of these exquisite examples of carving virtuosity is the coat-of-arms or—alternatively—the initials of the commissioning family; gambling counters with these “identifiers” are known as “armorial chips.” Records from cargo ships, catalogues of armorial porcelain, and various documents containing historical listings of coats-of-arms make it possible to date these “personalized” insignia-bearing chips with great precision. The exquisite chip listed here is of the non-armorial variety. Although gaming counters were normally commissioned by wealthy Britons living in or doing business in China, a few very fine and extremely rare sets were also carved for distinguished personages of Chinese descent; these unusual sets are initialized using Chinese rather than Western scrip. To keep up with the demands of production, sets were sometimes carved in advance of specific commissions, in which case, a round area was left blank for the possible eventual insertion of a crest or of initials. Quite a number of these “anonymous” sets were eventually sold to buyers not interested in paying a premium for “personalization.” On the opposite side of each gambling chip, a scene from Chinese life is portrayed. Carvers favored scenes portraying people engaging in every-day activities such as work, play, thoughtful meditation. Symbolism, which was subtly incorporated--in various guises--into the Chinese scenes carved on the chips, provides interesting and invaluable insights into the Chinese culture of the era. Typical examples of this symbolism include the incorporation of certain species of trees to suggest specific types of situations; the inclusion of insects, birds, and bats to portray the ethereal world; the utilization of fish to represent good luck; the insertion of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac to allude to personality characteristics and compatibilities; the appearance of peonies—“the flower offspring”—to symbolize the blossoming of youth; and the display of specific articles of attire to suggest social stature. Scenes containing three people typically depict the family unit (familial respect has always been an extremely important aspect of Chinese culture), while the presence of four people normally indicates that a family is entertaining a visitor (perhaps a minister, a merchant, an official, etc.). Additionally, the chips contain frequent symbolic references to many of the 34,000 philosophical poems of Emperor Ch’in Lung. (These poems were inspired by the ideals of great Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Loa-tzu, and Mencius, and were composed for the purpose of helping China return once again to a peaceful and spiritual way of life, following the long and warring Ming Dynasty.) Mother-of-pearl gambling tokens were carved from c. 1720until c. 1840, during the reign of the Ching Dynasty (the last dynasty of Imperial China). The majority of mother-of-pearl gaming counters were carved during the reign of Emperor Ch’in Lung (1736-1796). Superior art flourished during this peaceful era (known as the Ching Dynasty). Mother-of-pearl gambling tokens carved during the latter years of this period show a particularly high level of artistic craftsmanship, with high magnification often revealing minute artistic details completely invisible to the naked eye. From circa 1800 through 1840, during the reign of Emperor Chia Ching, Chinese artisans created still another beautiful variety of mother-of-pearl gambling counter. Working with very thick oyster shell (from a species of oyster that is now extinct), the chips crafted by the exceptionally talented carvers of this final period were exquisite, wonderfully thick, and deeply carved masterpieces of exceptional artistry and detail. This chip is an exquisite example from this period. Throughout their one hundred and twenty-year period of production, gaming sets utilizing mother-of-pearl gambling counters were in great demand among the British nobility. Commissions steadily increased as the existence of these magnificent personalized gambling chips became known to those living on the continent, with payment and shipment accomplished primarily through the Far East India Company. Production had reached a pinnacle by the year 1840—both in terms of quality and quantity; unfortunately, later that same year, when the Chinese ousted the British for perpetuating the infamous Opium Wars, the magnificent art of Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling chip carving was abruptly and forever terminated. Just after the middle of the Nineteenth Century, because the cessation of production, along with the ascendance in popularity of new games not requiring chips (such as Whist and Bridge), Chinese mother-of-pearl gaming counters began to fade into the shadows of their owners’ stately abodes. Only now are they being rediscovered for their exquisite beauty and historical significance. Dimensions in inches of this rectangular gambling chip are: Length: 2 ½” Width: 7/8” Weight: .02 Ounce

Price: 145 USD

Location: Woodbridge, Virginia

End Time: 2025-01-29T02:57:42.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD