AN IMPERIAL IVORY KEY TABLET

Notice Regarding the Sale of Ivory and Tortoiseshe… Read more

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AN IMPERIAL IVORY KEY TABLET
QING DYNASTY, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

The thick octagonal plaque carved with a border enclosing auspicious symbols including ingots, conch shells, and a cash coin amid billowing ribbons, surmounted by a musical stone framing a pair of confronted five-clawed dragons supporting a single pearl pierced for attachment and surrounded by ruyi fungus, inscribed to one side with the five characters Tianzi zhi baogui, 'the emperor's precious cabinet', one of the thick sides incised with the characters dong san, 'third east', the reverse and opposing side incised in Manchu script
4 1/2 in. (11.3 cm.) high

Special notice

Notice Regarding the Sale of Ivory and Tortoiseshell Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing ivory or tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

It appears that plaques such as these were used in the imperial storerooms in the Palace to label the location of the emperor's treasures.

Such an example is illustrated in Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1963-64, included in the exhibition, 'Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty', cat. no. 88; and another attached to a seal is illustrated in The Forbidden City, Rotterdam, 1990, cat. no. 76.

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