17TH-18TH CENTURY

Details

A SMALL MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUER HEXAGONAL BOX AND COVER
17TH-18TH CENTURY
The box and cover are made in the shape of a six-petaled flower, the molded petals radiating from a small gold flower head in the center of the cover and continuing onto the sloping shoulder, and repeated on the sides of the box, are finely inlaid with gold flowers on grounds of different colors and patterns, and there are borders of diaper pattern at the rims. The base is inlaid in gold with a two-character maker's seal mark, Qianli, surrounded by floral scroll.
2 ¼ in. (5.7 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box, silk pouch

Provenance

Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978) Collection.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Rufus Chen (陳嘉安) Head of Sale, AVP, Specialist

asianartny@christies.com +1 212 636 2180

Lot Essay

Jiang Qianli, who specialized in inlaid lacquer, has traditionally been dated to the late Ming period, but more recently is thought to have worked in the Kangxi period. However, inlaid lacquer wares made in his style and bearing his name continued to be made throughout the Qing dynasty,
Compare the box of this shape and slightly larger size (7.15 cm.), also with Qianli seal mark, illustrated by G. Tsang and H. Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, pp. 168-69, no. 144. The mark on the latter box is in a circle rather than a double square as on the present box, and the shape of the foot is different, more lobed than that of the present box. The decoration on the two boxes is very similar and, as with the present box and cover, the background inlay to the gold flowers on each 'petal' is either in green, reddish-purple or blue shell and of three different patterns, creating a subtle change in color or tone.

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