18TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE QIANGJIN AND TIANQI POLYCHROME LACQUER LOBED 'DRAGON' BOX AND COVER
18TH CENTURY
The top of the cover is finely decorated in qiangjin and tianqi technique with a central full-faced dragon surrounded by four dragons shown in profile amidst clouds. The lobed sides of the box are similarly decorated with sixteen dragons alternately ascending and descending above a band of rocks rising from wind-tossed waves on the sides of the box. There are borders of bats in flight at the rims, and a band of key fret encircling the foot.
17 7/8 in. (45.5 cm.) diam.

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Lot Essay

The techniques of qiangjin, incised lines filled with gold, and tianqi, or 'filled-in' colored lacquer, were often combined during the Ming dynasty, when they were especially popular. They continued to be used in the Qing dynasty. An identical box and cover of this type and form is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Zhongguo Qiqi Quanji, vol. 6, Beijing, 1993, pl. 138. Another similar box and cover decorated with a dragon surrounded by lotus scroll and key fret band, dated eighteenth century was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1963-64, no. 377.

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