Starting with a solid block of ivory, the carver created seven separate balls, inside each other.
During the Song dynasty, China's products of silk, tea, pottery, ivory, and other goods were in great demand throughout the world. More than thirty countries took up China's offer and sent envoys with presents to Peking. Some of them came from as far away as Italy and Holland.
The Chinese however, did not consider the foreign envoys their equals. To their minds, foreign tribute simply proved that the Chinese emperor really did rule "everything under heaven." The tribute system went back to feudal times, when obedient princes of vassal states sent gifts to the king of Chou as proof of their respect for their lord and master.
Throughout the dynasty, as a reaction against Mongol rule, China was looking backward,
trying to restore the glory of the ancient past. The great sea voyages stopped in the 1430s, after
Yung Lo's death. Confucian mandarins viewed the rise of commerce and a merchant class as a
threat to their power, which was based in the land. Later emperors were more interested in
gazing inward than outward toward the rest of the world.
But just the opposite was happening in the West. A great age of sea exploration was beginning. Europe was hungry for new markets. Having sampled Chinese tea, silk, and other goods, the Western nations were determined to trade with China.