.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The companion pair to the present box was sold in these Rooms, 30 May 2005, lot 1237. Ceramic items of this type were made to simulate other matieral in a playful attempt at trompe-l'oeil or 'trick of the eye'. Since ceramic clay allowed flexibility in shaping to any particular form and with an expansive range of enamel colours available during the Qianlong period, many porcelain items were made during this period to simulate other materials and entered the Qing Court as the emperor's play things.
Compare with another ceramic box modelled in the form of stacked books, detailed with the addition of seals and a seal-paste box on the cover, from the Palace collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 166, pl. 147, and included in the exhibition, Treasures of the Last Emperor, China Institute in America, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 35. The Palace Museum box is catalogued as an "insect cage". Compare also a related ceramic toothpick holder in imitation of a small painting scroll, where the exterior is similarly enamelled with a cell-pattern brocade-ground, included in the exhibition, Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 2003, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 58, fig. 1-48. Both the cited examples and the present box are inscribed with the hallmark Leshan Tang which is recorded in the Palace archives [fig. 1].
The name Leshan Tang, 'Hall of Pleasure from Goodness' was created by Prince Hongli, who later ascended the throne as Emperor Qianlong. The Leshan Tang name was inscribed by Prince Hongli in the Jiayin cyclical year of Yongzheng's reign (1734), and appears on a plaque placed above the royal throne in the Prince's then official residence, the Hall of Great Reverence. Undoubtedly, Qianlong held great sentiment for his former residence, and was known to have re-visited the Hall when enroute to the Chonghua Gong, 'The Palace of Double Brillance', cf. Mingqing Jiaju, Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 304.
Such sentiments influenced Qianlong's choice of the Leshan Tang title for his poetic composition written in his youth. This group of poems was later published in the second year of Qianlong's reign under the title of Leshan Tang Quanji, 'The complete compilation of Leshan Tang'; and the publication was reviewed twenty-one years later when Qianlong himself personally penned the preface to a total of 30 volumes of his works.
It is possible that a limited number of boxes were made bearing different names of palaces where they were placed. Cf. a similarly decorated box inscribed on the legend with the hallmark, Baoshan Tangzhi, 'Made for the Hall of Treasured Goodness', illustrated by P. Lam (ed.), Elegant Vessels for the Lofty Pavilion, The Zande Lou Gift of Porcelain with Studio Marks, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, no. 16.
Compare with another ceramic box modelled in the form of stacked books, detailed with the addition of seals and a seal-paste box on the cover, from the Palace collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 166, pl. 147, and included in the exhibition, Treasures of the Last Emperor, China Institute in America, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 35. The Palace Museum box is catalogued as an "insect cage". Compare also a related ceramic toothpick holder in imitation of a small painting scroll, where the exterior is similarly enamelled with a cell-pattern brocade-ground, included in the exhibition, Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 2003, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 58, fig. 1-48. Both the cited examples and the present box are inscribed with the hallmark Leshan Tang which is recorded in the Palace archives [fig. 1].
The name Leshan Tang, 'Hall of Pleasure from Goodness' was created by Prince Hongli, who later ascended the throne as Emperor Qianlong. The Leshan Tang name was inscribed by Prince Hongli in the Jiayin cyclical year of Yongzheng's reign (1734), and appears on a plaque placed above the royal throne in the Prince's then official residence, the Hall of Great Reverence. Undoubtedly, Qianlong held great sentiment for his former residence, and was known to have re-visited the Hall when enroute to the Chonghua Gong, 'The Palace of Double Brillance', cf. Mingqing Jiaju, Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 304.
Such sentiments influenced Qianlong's choice of the Leshan Tang title for his poetic composition written in his youth. This group of poems was later published in the second year of Qianlong's reign under the title of Leshan Tang Quanji, 'The complete compilation of Leshan Tang'; and the publication was reviewed twenty-one years later when Qianlong himself personally penned the preface to a total of 30 volumes of his works.
It is possible that a limited number of boxes were made bearing different names of palaces where they were placed. Cf. a similarly decorated box inscribed on the legend with the hallmark, Baoshan Tangzhi, 'Made for the Hall of Treasured Goodness', illustrated by P. Lam (ed.), Elegant Vessels for the Lofty Pavilion, The Zande Lou Gift of Porcelain with Studio Marks, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, no. 16.