QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A CARVED POLYCHROME LACQUER PEACH-SHAPED BOX CONTAINING A JADE-INSET RUYI
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
The box and cover are constructed in the shape of two conjoined larger and samller peach fruits, divided by leafy foliage bearing peach flowers which extend to the rims. The top of the cover is carved on the larger peach with a medallion depicting the immortal Han Xiangzi playing the flute in a landscape bordered by a band of stylised bats, against a florette-enclosing honeycomb diaper ground. The smaller peach is carved with a diamond diaper ground enclosing Wan symbols. The grounds are repeated on the box. The interior is fitted with a cushion containing a wood ruyi inset with three pale celadon jade plaques.
Box: 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm.) wide; ruyi: 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm.) long

Provenance

Karl Meinke (1876-c.1920), Germany
Gifted to Dr. Fred A. Young, Quebec, in the 1920s, and thence by descent within the family

Lot Essay

Karl Meinke was a German colonel who served as a diplomat in China at the turn of the 20th century, and later retired in Canada, where he became a patient of Dr. Fred A. Young, to whom he gifted the current lacquer box and ruyi.

More from The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All