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A VERY RARE IMPERIAL MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID ZITAN RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER
- QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

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A VERY RARE IMPERIAL MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID ZITAN RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    $80,000 - $120,000

Sale Information

Sale 2297
Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections
26 March 2010
New York, Rockefeller Plaza





Lot Description

A VERY RARE IMPERIAL MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID ZITAN RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Carved allover with writhing five-clawed dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls reserved on a wave ground and framed by borders of scrolling clouds within shaped reserves, the cover finely inlaid in mother-of- pearl with a seven-character inscription within gilt-bronze borders, the wood with attractive grain and of deep reddish-brown tone
16 3/8 in. (41.6 cm.) long

Lot Condition Report
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Pre-Lot Text

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF PHILIP WOOD, SAN FRANCISCO

Provenance

Acquired in Boston in 1980.

Lot Notes

The inscription may be read, Yu bi xiu de xiu xing lun, which may be translated, 'A discussion of the Imperial code of ethics and conduct.'

A very similar Qianlong period zitan box and cover, also inlaid with a mother-of-pearl inscription, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Imperial Packing Art of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2000, p. 117, no. 35. See, also, the similarly carved box and cover sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 391; and, the cover to a box of this type, inlaid with a twelve-character inscription, sold in these rooms, 15 September 2009, lot 234.

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