18TH CENTURY

Compare the similar zhadou and cover, dated to the Qianlong period, illustrated by S. Kwan in Chinese Lacquer, Hong Kong, 2010, pp. 290-1, no. 103, which is carved on the cover with the sanduo (leafy branches of peaches, pomegranates and finger citrons) and on the rim with leafy flower scroll, rather than the prunus branches of the present zhadou. Also illustrated is a photograph from the Sanxitang, in the Forbidden Palace, in which a similar zhadou and cover is shown, p. 290. See, also, the similar example carved with flower scroll, dated 18th century, in the Shenyang Palace Museum, illustrated by R.L. Thorpe in Son of Heaven: Imperial Arts of China, Seattle, 1988, p. 96, no. 28.