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Lot Essay
An Exquisite Imperial Silver and Gilt Box
Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asian Art
This exceptionally beautiful silver and gilt box was made for the Yongzheng Emperor and bears a four-character Yongzheng mark on its base. The style of decoration with the box appearing to be wrapped in a brocade cloth, tied on top of the lid (baofu), appears to be unique amongst published 18th century silver. However a somewhat larger box of identical design was made in lacquer for the Yongzheng Emperor and is preserved today in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, Macau, 2000, p. 121, no. 43). It is interesting to note that even the smallest details of the design of the two boxes are the same. The design of the brocade, even down to the alternation of shou characters and tortoise shell pattern within the hexagonal cells of the ‘brocade’ wrapping material, is the same, as are the eight-petalled flowers. On the corners of both boxes where the ‘brocade’ does not cover the box beneath, both are decorated with Buddha-hand citrus and with peaches and pomegranates, forming the auspicious san duo (three abundances).
While cloth was traditionally used to wrap items in China, the Japanese style of wrapping and its application to decoration was particularly appreciated by the Yongzheng emperor. It has been suggested that the reference to yangqi (literally, ‘foreign-style lacquer’) in palace records sometimes refers to Japanese lacquer, specifically miaojin ‘gold-painted lacquer’. A memorandum preserved in the palace archives has been translated as reading:
‘On the seventeenth day of the fourth month, in the tenth year of Yongzheng’s reign [1732], the Chief Eunuch Samu Ha brought out two yangqi lacquer wrapped boxes and said that the court Supervisor Chen Fu gave the following order: ‘The shape of this box is excellent. Some similar ones should be made in red and black lacquer, and also some painted with flowers. From the Emperor.’ (translated in Zhu Jiajin, ‘Yongzsheng Lacquerware in the Palace Museum, Beijing’, Orientations, vol. 19, no. 3, March 1988, p. 32). The only surviving lacquer box of this type in the Beijing Palace Museum is the example mentioned above. The exceptional closeness in the design of the lacquer box and the current silver and gilt box suggests that the silver box may have been made using the lacquer examples as a model, and therefore the date of manufacture for the current box is likely to be c. 1732-35.
Before he ascended to the throne as Yongzheng Emperor, Prince Yinzhen took a keen and active interest in the arts and encouraged court painting, and the decorative arts, and craftsmen in the imperial workshops were often commanded to make items for Yinzhen’s palaces. When he became emperor he was very strict and did not allow items made outside the imperial workshops to be used in his inner palaces. Indeed some of the items commissioned for his palaces were made to his own designs. He had a great interest in furniture, for example, and the most skilful carpenters from the best workshops in Suzhou, Guangzhou and Beijing were brought to the palace workshops. The Yongzheng emperor himself designed some items of furniture, chose the materials, and personally supervised the production. Yongzheng also designed a range of other items that were made at the imperial workshops, and this artistic side of his nature is undoubtedly responsible for the fact that during his reign the imperial ateliers produced some of their finest work. It is tempting to ask if the lacquer box discussed above and the current silver and gilt box may have been the subject of his designs.
The interior of the box is as beautifully designed and executed as the exterior, although in a different style. The interior has a raised platform fashioned to look as if a branches of blossoming prunus and bamboo had been laid upon a piece of damask. The prunus and bamboo are in high relief and in the centre of the platform one branch is raised above the surface of the platform to create a subtle handle, which allows a square lid to be removed, revealing a small square, silver-lined compartment. The sides of the compartment have delicately incised designs. This almost hidden compartment suggests that whatever it was intended to contain must have been very precious. Elaborate containers to house items of value became popular with the Chinese emperors in the 18th century, and although such containers are most readily associated with the Qianlong Emperor, they were also of interest to the Yongzheng Emperor.
The silverwork on the interior of the current box with its wonderfully natural, three-dimensional depiction of the prunus branch and bamboo, is reminiscent, in quality and naturalistic depiction, of the trunk and branches of the tree which forms the famous Yuan dynasty silver raft in the Palace Museum, Beijing. This raft with a figure identified as the Tang poet Li Bo (701-762), despite a poem referring to the Han dynasty traveller Zhang Qian being inscribed on the base, is dated AD 1345, and usually attributed to the famous silversmith Zhi Bishan (1328-1368), is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of silverwork. It is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Gongyi meishu bian, 10, Jin yin boli falang qi, Beijing, 1987, no. 154. Zhi Bishan was renowned for his elaborate casting and the fine chiselling of his finished silver pieces. The current box is of similar exceptional quality.
The interest in depicting items in various media with tied ‘silk’ wrapping is a feature which seems to have appeared in the Yongzheng reign, and continued in popularity in the Qianlong period. A further box with ‘silk wrap’ is a red sandlewood box in the collection of the Palace Museum Beijing, which was included in the exhibition Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, op. cit., as exhibit number 41. In this case the ‘tied silk wrap’ was carved in wood and then carefully covered in real yellow silk damask. Although now a little frayed, it can still be seen that the silk was so tightly applied over the carved wood that, when new, it would have been difficult to discern that the entire wrapping was not made of silk.
A tied, multi-coloured and patterned silk wrap has been depicted around a fine Yongzheng metal-bodied, covered jar decorated in painted enamels, which is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei and is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pp. 214-5, no. 108. This jar has a four-character Yongzheng mark on the base. The style of this enamelled jar obviously also appealed to the Qianlong Emperor, and the National Palace Museum also has in its collection an almost identical covered jar bearing a Qianlong mark (illustrated ibid., pp. 216-7, no. 109). The decorative device of painting a tied ‘silk’ wrapping around a vessel was also applied to porcelain in the Qianlong reign, and a zun-shaped vase decorated in enamel colours and gold with a pink ‘silk’ wrapping is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, op. cit., p. 120, no. 42).
The small square compartment under the prunus branch cover inside the box must have been intended to hold something small and precious. It is possible that this may have been a valuable personal seal, or perhaps a single exquisite jewel. What is clear, is that this beautiful box was made by an imperial silversmith of exceptional skill in accordance with the wishes of an emperor known for his exacting standards and refined taste.
Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asian Art
This exceptionally beautiful silver and gilt box was made for the Yongzheng Emperor and bears a four-character Yongzheng mark on its base. The style of decoration with the box appearing to be wrapped in a brocade cloth, tied on top of the lid (baofu), appears to be unique amongst published 18th century silver. However a somewhat larger box of identical design was made in lacquer for the Yongzheng Emperor and is preserved today in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, Macau, 2000, p. 121, no. 43). It is interesting to note that even the smallest details of the design of the two boxes are the same. The design of the brocade, even down to the alternation of shou characters and tortoise shell pattern within the hexagonal cells of the ‘brocade’ wrapping material, is the same, as are the eight-petalled flowers. On the corners of both boxes where the ‘brocade’ does not cover the box beneath, both are decorated with Buddha-hand citrus and with peaches and pomegranates, forming the auspicious san duo (three abundances).
While cloth was traditionally used to wrap items in China, the Japanese style of wrapping and its application to decoration was particularly appreciated by the Yongzheng emperor. It has been suggested that the reference to yangqi (literally, ‘foreign-style lacquer’) in palace records sometimes refers to Japanese lacquer, specifically miaojin ‘gold-painted lacquer’. A memorandum preserved in the palace archives has been translated as reading:
‘On the seventeenth day of the fourth month, in the tenth year of Yongzheng’s reign [1732], the Chief Eunuch Samu Ha brought out two yangqi lacquer wrapped boxes and said that the court Supervisor Chen Fu gave the following order: ‘The shape of this box is excellent. Some similar ones should be made in red and black lacquer, and also some painted with flowers. From the Emperor.’ (translated in Zhu Jiajin, ‘Yongzsheng Lacquerware in the Palace Museum, Beijing’, Orientations, vol. 19, no. 3, March 1988, p. 32). The only surviving lacquer box of this type in the Beijing Palace Museum is the example mentioned above. The exceptional closeness in the design of the lacquer box and the current silver and gilt box suggests that the silver box may have been made using the lacquer examples as a model, and therefore the date of manufacture for the current box is likely to be c. 1732-35.
Before he ascended to the throne as Yongzheng Emperor, Prince Yinzhen took a keen and active interest in the arts and encouraged court painting, and the decorative arts, and craftsmen in the imperial workshops were often commanded to make items for Yinzhen’s palaces. When he became emperor he was very strict and did not allow items made outside the imperial workshops to be used in his inner palaces. Indeed some of the items commissioned for his palaces were made to his own designs. He had a great interest in furniture, for example, and the most skilful carpenters from the best workshops in Suzhou, Guangzhou and Beijing were brought to the palace workshops. The Yongzheng emperor himself designed some items of furniture, chose the materials, and personally supervised the production. Yongzheng also designed a range of other items that were made at the imperial workshops, and this artistic side of his nature is undoubtedly responsible for the fact that during his reign the imperial ateliers produced some of their finest work. It is tempting to ask if the lacquer box discussed above and the current silver and gilt box may have been the subject of his designs.
The interior of the box is as beautifully designed and executed as the exterior, although in a different style. The interior has a raised platform fashioned to look as if a branches of blossoming prunus and bamboo had been laid upon a piece of damask. The prunus and bamboo are in high relief and in the centre of the platform one branch is raised above the surface of the platform to create a subtle handle, which allows a square lid to be removed, revealing a small square, silver-lined compartment. The sides of the compartment have delicately incised designs. This almost hidden compartment suggests that whatever it was intended to contain must have been very precious. Elaborate containers to house items of value became popular with the Chinese emperors in the 18th century, and although such containers are most readily associated with the Qianlong Emperor, they were also of interest to the Yongzheng Emperor.
The silverwork on the interior of the current box with its wonderfully natural, three-dimensional depiction of the prunus branch and bamboo, is reminiscent, in quality and naturalistic depiction, of the trunk and branches of the tree which forms the famous Yuan dynasty silver raft in the Palace Museum, Beijing. This raft with a figure identified as the Tang poet Li Bo (701-762), despite a poem referring to the Han dynasty traveller Zhang Qian being inscribed on the base, is dated AD 1345, and usually attributed to the famous silversmith Zhi Bishan (1328-1368), is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of silverwork. It is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, Gongyi meishu bian, 10, Jin yin boli falang qi, Beijing, 1987, no. 154. Zhi Bishan was renowned for his elaborate casting and the fine chiselling of his finished silver pieces. The current box is of similar exceptional quality.
The interest in depicting items in various media with tied ‘silk’ wrapping is a feature which seems to have appeared in the Yongzheng reign, and continued in popularity in the Qianlong period. A further box with ‘silk wrap’ is a red sandlewood box in the collection of the Palace Museum Beijing, which was included in the exhibition Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, op. cit., as exhibit number 41. In this case the ‘tied silk wrap’ was carved in wood and then carefully covered in real yellow silk damask. Although now a little frayed, it can still be seen that the silk was so tightly applied over the carved wood that, when new, it would have been difficult to discern that the entire wrapping was not made of silk.
A tied, multi-coloured and patterned silk wrap has been depicted around a fine Yongzheng metal-bodied, covered jar decorated in painted enamels, which is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei and is illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch’ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pp. 214-5, no. 108. This jar has a four-character Yongzheng mark on the base. The style of this enamelled jar obviously also appealed to the Qianlong Emperor, and the National Palace Museum also has in its collection an almost identical covered jar bearing a Qianlong mark (illustrated ibid., pp. 216-7, no. 109). The decorative device of painting a tied ‘silk’ wrapping around a vessel was also applied to porcelain in the Qianlong reign, and a zun-shaped vase decorated in enamel colours and gold with a pink ‘silk’ wrapping is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Qing Legacies – the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, op. cit., p. 120, no. 42).
The small square compartment under the prunus branch cover inside the box must have been intended to hold something small and precious. It is possible that this may have been a valuable personal seal, or perhaps a single exquisite jewel. What is clear, is that this beautiful box was made by an imperial silversmith of exceptional skill in accordance with the wishes of an emperor known for his exacting standards and refined taste.