Lot Essay
The seal box is known in Chinese as yinse he (seal colour box) or 'vermillion box' as some examples still contain traces of ink-paste for which they were made as part of the ba da ma or 'Eight Great Numbers' for the Imperial scholar's desk.
Similar examples of yinse he are illustrated by S. Valenstein, Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, pl. 138; in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 11, col. pl. 28; in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, col. pl. 254, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, p. 141, pl. 124, from the Palace Museum, Beijing; and in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, Catalogue, no. 11, from the National Palace Museum, Taibei, also included in the Special Exhibition of Monochromes, Catalogue, no. 7.
(US$32,000-40,000)
Similar examples of yinse he are illustrated by S. Valenstein, Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, pl. 138; in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 11, col. pl. 28; in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, col. pl. 254, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, p. 141, pl. 124, from the Palace Museum, Beijing; and in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, Ch'ien-lung Porcelain, Catalogue, no. 11, from the National Palace Museum, Taibei, also included in the Special Exhibition of Monochromes, Catalogue, no. 7.
(US$32,000-40,000)