MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

A very similar red lacquer box, the cover carved with a complex Daoist figural scene and the bottom of the box with flowers and birds, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Treasures of the Palace Museum - 45 - Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 247, no, 195. Two smaller boxes, one carved overall with bird and flower scenes, the other with figural scenes, in the British Museum, are illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London and Boston, 1979, pl. 65-66. Another small box, carved on the cover with a figure and a lion and on the base carved with rocks and flowers, is illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Ancient Chinese Lacquer, Beijing, 1987, pl. 57.