QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER INCISED GILT MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'RED CLIFF' OVAL BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER INCISED GILT MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
The cover is delicately carved with an oval panel enclosing a scene of three scholars in a covered boat accompanied by an attendant and an oarsman on a river below a pine tree and towering rocky cliffs. The remainder of the box is carved with fish leaping from turbulent waves, the details are finely incised. The interior of the box base bears the reign mark and the underside of the cover also has the incised and gilt mark 'Shibi bao he', which may be translated as 'Treasured box of the Red Cliff'.
4 ¼ in. (10.8 cm.) wide

Provenance

Private English Collection, assembled from the 1970s to 1990s.
With label, F. Beck Collection, no. 463.

Brought to you by

Leila de vos van Steenwijk

ldevos@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2518

Lot Essay

The scene depicted on this box is taken from the Song dynasty poem entitled 'Latter Ode to the Red Cliff', the second section of the 'Ode to the Red Cliff' in which the scholars Su Dongpo, Huang Lujie and the monk Foyin re-visit the red cliffs in the winter of 1032. In contrast to their first visit where they found the river tranquil, this time they are swept along by the torrential River Yangtze, which is reflected in the tumultuous waves carved onto the sides and base of the current lot.

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