Chinese puzzle ball with seven concentric spheres inside which rotate freely. They are all carved from one single piece. Carving such a ball requires a steady hand and lots of patience. The carver starts by drilling several holes in different depths and with varying diameters towards the centre of a solid ball of ivory. The holes start large and become smaller, the deeper he drills. Then, using special ‘L’ shaped tools, he begins to separate the innermost balls. The tool with the longest upright stem has the shortest cutter, and the one with the shortest upright stem has the longest cutter. The craftsman lowers the longest tool to the bottom of the smallest hole and rotates it to cut the innermost sphere free. Using the second longest, which doesn’t reach as far down he then cuts a wider arc and separates the second sphere, and so on. Then, by carefully rotating, he smoothens the individual spheres until each one is perfectly round. After that each sphere is decorated in a lace-like manner which creates a lofty and fragile appearance. The outermost sphere is the easiest to carve and is usually decorated with swirling dragons amongst clouds. Our puzzle ball has a stand in the shape of a woman holding a lotus flower, symbol of Continuous Harmony. The ball was made around 1900 in Hong Kong for the tourist industry and the lower part of the original box mentions the address of the shop 287 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong. The cover of the box is missing. Height including stand 21 cm. Ball diameter 5.5 cm.