Cf. other polychrome lacquer boxes of this design, a Qianlong-marked box in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by H. Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 90; another Qianlong marked example included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Lacquer, the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 76, where it is compared to a Jiajing prototype of this design, no. 61; one in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, included in the Special Exhibition of Palace Lacquer Objects, 1981, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 67, together with the Jiajing version, no. 37; one included in the Shoto Museum of Art 10th anniversary exhibition, Chinese Lacquerware, 1991, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 88; and another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 8, Lacquer, pl. 172.

The Qianlong versions of this box are very similar to the late Ming prototypes, suggesting that they were specifically commissioned to emulate the earlier quality and sophistication of the elaborate layout and combination of coloured lacquers. In addition, it was recorded in the Archives of the Imperial Workshop at the Yangxin Hall in 1743, circular Chun boxes were considered by the Qianlong emperor as superior and a special order of twelve more was issued in 1758; for a further discussion on this, see Yang Boda, 'History of Carved Lacquer in Suzhou in the Qing Dynasty', Journal of Chinese Museum of History, vol. 4, 1982, pp. 123-136.