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Lot Essay
This rare carved red lacquer collector's box is related to others of Qianlong date that were made to store precious objects. The lower tray on wheels, which imitates a cart, is similar to one that supports a box of taller proportions with pagoda roof in the collection of Her Majesty Queen Mary, included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, November 1935 - March 1936, no. 2334.
Another two-tiered example supporting a nest of fitted boxes is illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1971, no. 41. (Fig. 1); another example with nesting boxes supported by four corner pillars and with twelve side panels is illustrated by A. W. Bahr in Old Chinese Porcelain and Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl. CXVII, which is very similar to a cart-form box sold at Sotheby's Paris, 18 December 2012, lot 63. Compare a very similar box to the present lot sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 3012, and see, also, a similar cart base raised on wheels sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2007, lot 159.
Another two-tiered example supporting a nest of fitted boxes is illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1971, no. 41. (Fig. 1); another example with nesting boxes supported by four corner pillars and with twelve side panels is illustrated by A. W. Bahr in Old Chinese Porcelain and Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl. CXVII, which is very similar to a cart-form box sold at Sotheby's Paris, 18 December 2012, lot 63. Compare a very similar box to the present lot sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 3012, and see, also, a similar cart base raised on wheels sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2007, lot 159.