19th century|The main sphere enclosing several intricately pierced balls, the outer skin profusely carved with figures, pagodas and sampans in scenes of daily life, the inner layers pierced with various geometric designs, all between two pierced drums, one beneath a carving of an Immortal and attendant attached to chain suspended from a fish-hook terminal. 51cm (20in) long.|十九世紀 象牙鏤雕亭台人物紋套球Provenance: a European Private Collection來源： 歐洲私人收藏'Devil-work Balls' were highly admired in Europe. In 1872, C.Alabaster wrote in his Catalogue of Chinese Objects in the South Kensington Museum, 'for deep and delicate carving there is no foreign work equal to or even approaching the fan sticks and small jewel boxes to be bought in the Hong Kong and Canton shops, and the art of cutting ball within ball, as the Chinese are fond of doing, has not even been attempted by Europeans.' Compare with a similar pendant of concentric balls, early 19th century, in the Victoria and Albert Museum and illustrated in Chinese Ivories: from the Shang to the Qing, London, 1984, p.187, no.266.