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Lot Essay
This unusual shape is taken from a silver ingot, a tradable currency during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This shape appears in early lacquerwares, cf. a Song dynasty mother-of-pearl inlaid box from the Asian art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Lacquerware, Taiwan 1987, p.39 ; in ceramic during the mid-Ming dynasty, for an example see a Jiajing-marked blue and white box illustrated in Gugong Wenwu Jinghua Baipinzhan (II), National Palace Museum, Taiwan, no.20
The ingot-shaped boxes continued in production into the Qing dynasty such as the polychrome lacquer four-tiered box, Qianlong period, sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 26 April 2004, lot 925 ; see also the very similar ingot-shaped carved red lacquer box, Qianlong period, illustrated in Lee King-Tse and Hu Shih Chang, Dragon and Phoenix, Chinese Lacquer Ware, The Lee Familly Collection, Tokyo, Museum of East Asian art, Cologne 1990, pp.172-173, pl.74
The ingot-shaped boxes continued in production into the Qing dynasty such as the polychrome lacquer four-tiered box, Qianlong period, sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 26 April 2004, lot 925 ; see also the very similar ingot-shaped carved red lacquer box, Qianlong period, illustrated in Lee King-Tse and Hu Shih Chang, Dragon and Phoenix, Chinese Lacquer Ware, The Lee Familly Collection, Tokyo, Museum of East Asian art, Cologne 1990, pp.172-173, pl.74