A FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL RED LACQUER 'HUNDRED BOYS' BOX AND COVERCHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

It is rare to find lacquer of the Qianlong period so deeply carved with designs going over the edges of the cover to the sides in a highly intricate and very complex composition. Compare with three very similar Qianlong 'boys' boxes and covers, one with a Qianlong mark from the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Lacquer, Vol. 8, no. 168, p. 168; another illustrated in Le Musée Chinois de l'Impératrice Eugénie, p. 49; and a third in The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco illustrated by Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Lacquerware, pl. 155.
See a very similar example although slightly smaller than the present example sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 5/6 November 1997, lot 911.