RARE BOITE COUVERTE EN LAQUE ROUGE SCULPTEE

CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)

Details

RARE BOITE COUVERTE EN LAQUE ROUGE SCULPTEE
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, EPOQUE QIANLONG (1736-1795)
The cover is superbly carved with a central medallion, depicting a tree-strewn landscape scene, with two seated scholars drinking tea on a river bank. An attendant fans a stove which is heating a teapot, and observes a crane in flight amidst the swirling clouds above. The medallion is enclosed by a raised band of archaistic phoenixes. The sides of the box and cover are finely detailed with eight rectangular cartouches depicting riverside landscapes with scholars, fishermen and attendants enclosed within elaborate borders, alternating with smaller circular landscape vignettes within floral borders. The interior and base are lacquered black, and the interior painted in gold, red and brown with flower sprays and bats.

9 7/8 in (25.1 cm.) diam.

Provenance

European private collection.

Further details

A FINELY CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Brought to you by

Fiona Braslau

fbraslau@christies.com +33 (0)140768422

Lot Essay

The superb box is striking for its sheer technical virtuosity and three-dimensional carving but in addition, the complex design of the borders of the cartouches and roundels make this a very rare example of Qianlong carved lacquer. The influence of Western rococo of the late 18th century is clearly echoed in the elaborate element found on the present box. Complex borders are found on a Qianlong-marked polychrome lacquer box in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing illustrated in Lacquer Ware of the Qing Dynasty, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p.42, no. 26.

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