China, ruby ​​red overlay glass snuff box, The Four Noble Trades, early 19th century.

Well-carved ruby ​​red overlay glass snuff bottle on an almost translucent background decorated with the theme of the four noble occupations (yu qiao geng du): woodcutter, farmer, scholar, fisherman.
Posterior plug.
5.5 x 5.5 x 2.5 without cap

China, early 19th century

Former collection of the administrator of the Bon Marché department store in Paris around 1900.

The four occupations correspond to a hierarchical social class structure developed in ancient China by Confucian or Legalist scholars from the late Zhou dynasty onwards and are considered a central element of the social structure.