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Lot Essay
The interior of the cover bears an inscription: 'mianmian guatie (a profusion of gourds) dated xinwei year (1931), first month, Treasure of Chunweng (old man Chun),' followed by Xu Hanqing's collection seal.' An inscription on the interior of the box reads: 'obtained in xinwei year (1931), first month.'
The fine carving of the box, which depicts a butterfly in flight amidst leafy, flowering stems of begonia reserved on a cloud diaper ground, is stylistically similar to that of six zitan boxes with Qianlong inscriptions that contain archaistic ink stones in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th Century, Taipei, 2003, p. 112, pl. II-21. Another of these boxes, formerly in the J.M. Hu Collection, inscribed Qianlong yuyong (for the personal use of Qianlong), which accompanied a clay tiger-form inkstone, was sold in these rooms, 15 September 2009, lot 237.
The fine carving of the box, which depicts a butterfly in flight amidst leafy, flowering stems of begonia reserved on a cloud diaper ground, is stylistically similar to that of six zitan boxes with Qianlong inscriptions that contain archaistic ink stones in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Through the Prism of the Past: Antiquarian Trends in Chinese Art of the 16th to 18th Century, Taipei, 2003, p. 112, pl. II-21. Another of these boxes, formerly in the J.M. Hu Collection, inscribed Qianlong yuyong (for the personal use of Qianlong), which accompanied a clay tiger-form inkstone, was sold in these rooms, 15 September 2009, lot 237.