清乾隆

It is rare to find reign marks on mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes although some examples can be found with a maker's mark of Qian Li, denoting Jian Qianli, who specialised in inlaid lacquer and was known to have been active during the early Qing dynasty. Another Qianlong-marked mother-of-pearl inlaid box and cover of quatre-lobed form was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 7 July (catalogue dated 28 April) 2003, lot 536.