A RARE CARVED THREE-COLOUR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A RARE CARVED THREE-COLOUR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER

Details
A RARE CARVED THREE-COLOUR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER INCISED AND GILT MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The box and cover are of compressed globular form, crisply carved through layers of cinnabar-red, dark green and ochre lacquer, the top with a writhing dragon coiled around a 'flaming pearl' amidst swirling clouds, the rounded sides with two pairs of dragons in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', repeated on the box above crashing waves on rocky outcrops, all between key-fret bands around the rims and foot, the interior and base lacquered black, the reign mark inscribed on the base and another inscription jiu long bao he, 'Nine Dragon Treasure Box', on the inside of the cover (minor losses and repairs)
11 3/8 in. (28.9 cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

A box of identical design and similar size was sold in these Rooms, 16 January 1989, lot 347. Smaller boxes with comparable decoration but less pronounced height are published, one illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1985, pl. 316; and another is illustrated by J. Watt and B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, no. 43.

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