THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
AN UNUSUAL PAINTED ENAMEL AND GILT-COPPER LOBED BOX AND COVER

Details
AN UNUSUAL PAINTED ENAMEL AND GILT-COPPER LOBED BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN RED ENAMEL WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD

Of flower form, the top and sides chased and gilded with European-style borders worked as stylized leaves, forming an elaborate central flowerhead on the cover and dividing the entire box into reserved cartouches containing finely enameled flowerheads with scrolling tendrils reserved against a pale aqua ground, raised on a low foot of conforming outline encircling the white enameled base, the interior with pale blue enamel
14½in. (37cm.) wide, mirrored stand (3)

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