A fine 'ink-play' agate snuff bottle, Official School 1750-1840

of well-hollowed rounded rectangular form, the dendritic agate providing the foliage of a tree, the trunk and branches carved from the ground color, one shoulder carved with a bird in flight

John Ford, 1990

For a discussion on 'Ink-play' agate snuff bottles, see Hugh M. Moss, "'Ink-Play' Agates" JICSBS, Autumn 1997, pp. 4-16.  This is one of the more spectacular examples, where the artist has simply added a trunk and branches to the natural markings in the stone to turn in into one of the finer trees in the medium.