QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN BLACK ENAMEL WITHIN A DOUBLE SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Compare a painted enamel bowl with a very similar design, including the lower spiral roll border, and with a Qianlong four-character mark in red enamel, included in the exhibition, Chinese Painted Enamels of the 18th Century, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 14 - 23 October 1993, no. 12, where it is identified as having been made in Guangzhou. The author also proposes that the bowl and other vessels painted with a similar design may have originated from the same workshop and were most likely made for the court. This may indeed be the case, as all of the published pieces with this design appear to have Qianlong marks, usually in blue or red enamel. A teapot with a flowerhead very similar to that in the center of the cover of the present box shown amidst similar scattered flower heads is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 43 - Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 208, no. 199. See, also, the similarly painted lobed ewer sold in these rooms, 20 September 2002, lot 185. The decoration on the present box and the related wares is also similar to that found on porcelain wares of 18th century date.