Tinderbox with dragons

清朝乾楺玟牙筄恳教子火汴睵

HIDDEN MEANING: May your son become a high official (canglong jiaozi 筄恳教子

The old and young dragon on this imperial tinderbox suggests the phrase "the old dragon teaches its young." This motif, similar to the sculpture of the two fish in this exhibition, conveys a wish for an official position to pass from one generation to the next. For an emperor it would have conveyed the wish that the crown prince would follow his footsteps.