QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE QIANGJIN AND TIANQI LOBED 'DRAGON' BOX AND COVER
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
The pattern finely incised, highlighted in shades of black, brown, yellow, green and red lacquer with outlines etched in gold against an orange-brown ground, to depict on the upper surface an upright full-faced dragon surrounded by the Eight Buddhist Emblems supported on lotus blooms borne on a scrolling vine amidst cloud-scroll, the lobed sides of the box and cover with eight ascending dragons alternating with bats among peony sprays, above a register of further floral sprays among waves and rockwork to sides of the box, bordered at the rims with bats in flight, supported on a lobed foot ring decorated with a keyfret band
17 7/8 in. (45.5 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box

Provenance

The Mori Family Collection, Japan, acquired in the 19th century

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Lot Essay

An 18th century box of very similar size and related design is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Qiqi Quanji, 1993, vol. 6, Qing, no. 138. The Qing version of this pattern is based on earlier prototypes dating to the Wanli period. A similarly lacquered and gilded five-lobed box bearing a Wanli cyclical dingwei date, corresponding to 1607, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Beijing, 1989, vol. 8, p. 140, no. 137.

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