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Lot Essay
Nine is an auspicious number, and the motif of nine dragons was used frequently during the Qing dynasty, including on both formal and semi-formal robes.
This large well-carved three-color lacquer box is very similar in size and decoration to one with a Qianlong mark in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by R. D. Jacobsen, Appreciating China, Gifts from Ruth and Bruce Dayton, Minneapolis, 2002, p. 128, no. 71, where the author describes the technique of carving through the various colored layers to create a polychrome effect as t'i-ts'ai (ticai). See, also, another very similar box and cover sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1809.
This large well-carved three-color lacquer box is very similar in size and decoration to one with a Qianlong mark in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by R. D. Jacobsen, Appreciating China, Gifts from Ruth and Bruce Dayton, Minneapolis, 2002, p. 128, no. 71, where the author describes the technique of carving through the various colored layers to create a polychrome effect as t'i-ts'ai (ticai). See, also, another very similar box and cover sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1809.