Lot Essay
This superb pair of tiered boxes is executed in a technique known as zhuhuang (literally, 'bamboo yellow', but meaning bamboo veneer). The technique involved stripping the interior surface of the bamboo cortex, soaking it and pressing it flat, and then applying it as a veneer to the base material of the object. A second layer was then carved and superimposed over the first layer. It was a time-consuming technique that required extraordinary technical skill, but it nonetheless allowed for the production of works far beyond the range of shapes and sizes possible with the natural bamboo stem and root. Boxes of different shapes and sizes executed in this technique are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and include the two-tiered quatrefoil box illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, p. 83, no. 51, and the two-tiered double-lozenge box in the Qing Court Collection illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 44 - Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 79, no. 72, which is decorated with a similar leafy lotus scroll. See, also, the small petal-lobed box illustrated by S. Kwan, Ming and Qing Bamboo, University Museum of Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2000, p. 319, no. 86.