Lot Essay
No other painted enamel box of such elaborate type and with areas of gilded chasing appears to have been published. For a vase executed in a style similar to the present box, i.e., a combination of painted enamel and gilded chased decoration, see the richly decorated baluster vase which incorporates landscape vignettes and mille fleurs (jiacai) grounds amidst a dense arrangement of gilded, foliate C-scrolls, which bears a Qianlong seal mark in blue enamel, included in the exhibition, Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery, February 28-April 12, 1987, Catalogue, p. 85, no. 46. For finely painted foliate decoration of the type found on the present box, see the large, square, lobed box with small trays fitted into the interior, included in the same exhibition, p. 87, no. 49. On this latter example the foliate scrolls form a more allover design rather than being arranged as individual foliate sprays and are reserved on a dark blue rather than a turquoise ground