QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

An 18th century box of very similar size and related design is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Qiqi Quanji, 1993, vol. 6, Qing, no. 138. The Qing version of this pattern is based on earlier prototypes dating to the Wanli period. A similarly lacquered and gilded five-lobed box bearing a Wanli cyclical dingwei date, corresponding to 1607, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, Beijing, 1989, vol. 8, p. 140, no. 137.