Provincial Kite Reel

This unusually-shaped object is a 19th-century Chinese kite reel, cleverly carved to contain small wooden beads that rattle back and forth as the reel is used. A popular past time, kite flying has a long tradition in China and is celebrated with an annual festival on the ninth day of the ninth moon. A work of art to match the extravagant kite it once tethered, this wooden spool lives on as a sculptural object and a storied relic of the past.