WANLI INCISED AND GILT BINGXU CYCLICAL DATE, CORRESPONDING TO 1586 AND OF THE PERIOD

The current box is extremely rare and only one other identical box is known, also inscribed with a Wanli Bingxu cyclical date, in the Qing Court Collection and illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, no. 172. (fig. 1) The author states that the Palace Museum box was the only known polychrome lacquer example at the time executed with the 'vertical colour' method (shu se), where the carving was rendered on lacquer of various colours placed vertically side by side, instead of the conventional way of carving through horizontal layered polychrome lacquer, making the present box exceptionally rare and important.