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Lot Essay
Circular silver boxes of this shape, of various sizes, both decorated and undecorated, were popular during the Tang dynasty, and were used for various purposes. A parcel-gilt silver box of the same shape, and comparable size (12.4 cm. diam.), decorated with a different formal foliate design reserved on a ring-punched ground, in the Shaanxi History Museum, is illustrated in Selected Treasures from Hejiacun Tang Hoard, Beijing, 2003, pp. 187-92, no. 44. An inscription painted inside the cover indicates that it was used to hold granulated gold, which was most likely used for medicinal purposes, as were the contents of a plain silver box of similar shape, but larger size (17.5 cm.), also from Hejiacun, illustrated pp. 153-56, no. 33. An inscription painted inside the box lists the contents, which included cinnabar and pieces of jade. Another related parcel-gilt silver circular box from Hejiacun (12.4 cm.), with different formal foliate decoration is illustrated by C. Michaelson, Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China's Golden Ages, British Museum, 1999, p. 121-22, no. 85, where the author, p. 122, notes that these types of boxes were used not only as containers for medicines, but were also "the most popular gifts from the emperor to his courtiers, officials and concubines", and might have contained makeup or medicines.