An example of handmade wooden packaging made to mimic the Republican commercial practice of housing tiles in drawers. Here bone bamboo tiles are in trays contained within a heavily lacquered wooden box from which they slide out of an upwardly sliding door at one end. Mahjong sets were often produced and sold separately from their boxes as they came from workshops skilled only in tile production, providing the opportunity for individually made packaging. This set has 136 hand-carved Republican tiles, one tile having been replaced with a similar old bone and bamboo tile.
An example of handmade wooden packaging made to mimic the Republican commercial practice of housing tiles in drawers. Here bone bamboo tiles are in trays contained within a heavily lacquered wooden box from which they slide out of an upwardly sliding door at one end. Mahjong sets were often produced and sold separately from their boxes as they came from workshops skilled only in tile production, providing the opportunity for individually made packaging. This set has 136 hand-carved Republican tiles, one tile having been replaced with a similar old bone and bamboo tile.
