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A FINELY CARVED POLAYCHROME LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
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A FINELY CARVED POLAYCHROME LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    HK$2,500,000 - HK$3,000,000
  • ($323,558 - $388,270)

Sale Information

Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog





Lot Description

A FINELY CARVED POLAYCHROME LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER INCISED AND GILT MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The top of the cover deeply and crisply carved through the outer cinnabar-red layer to the dark green and amber layers of lacquer, with a large central Chun, 'Spring', character incorporating a medallion of Shoulao, hovering above a basket filled with auspicious objects, with three-colour rays radiating towards a pair of dragons amidst ruyi-clouds, the sides of the box and cover carved with figural landscape vignettes in shaped cartouches alternating with further auspicious symbols reserved in a two-colour diaper ground, with lingzhi scrolls at the rims, the inside of the cover with the four-character mark, Shou chun bao he, 'Treasure box of longevity and eternal spring', the gilded reign mark incised on the black-lacquer base
12 1/4 in. (31 cm.) diam.


清乾隆 剔彩春壽寶盒 《大清乾隆年製》描金刻款

盒呈蒸餅式，有蓋，子母口，圈足。以剔彩工藝雕刻紋飾，備紅、黃、綠三色。蓋面圓形開光，萬字錦地上雕聚寶盆，盆內發出萬道霞光，光上托「春」字；「春」字上部中心飾圓形開光，內居壽星，端坐松下，仙鹿臥於一旁，寓春壽之意，「春」字兩側雕騰龍於如意雲海之中。蓋及盒壁斜格錦地上各飾四組開光，內分別雕《洗桐圖》、《邀月圖》、《采菊圖》、《米芾拜石圖》、《羲之愛鵝圖》、《撫琴圖》、《植竹圖》、《聽溪圖》等，以雜寶紋相間。上下口沿環飾靈芝紋一周，足牆雕迴紋。器內壁及圈足內髹黑漆，底中心描金刻「大清乾隆年製」三行六字楷書款。

此盒雕工繁複，但層次清晰，工匠運刀如筆，犀利準確，細緻，比明嘉靖朝所製之剔彩春壽寶盒更為出色。北京故宮博物院收藏的清乾隆剔彩春壽圓盒與此盒如出一轍，唯不落款而已。

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Pre-Lot Text

ANOTHER PROPERTY

Provenance

An American private collection

Lot Notes

The various themes of longevity on boxes of this type, with the large central Chun character, indicate that they were made for birthday celebrations or were commissioned by the emperor to be given away on the occasion of a birthday. The size of the boxes varies from about 31 cm. to 39 cm., but the composition remains the same for all boxes.

A similar box and cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 8, Lacquer, Beijing, 1989, pl. 172; one from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the Special Exhibition of Palace Lacquer Objects, Taiwan, 1981, Catalogue, no. 67, together with the Jiajing prototype of this box, no. 37; one from the Avery Brundage collection, is illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 148, fig. 90; an example from the Manno Art Museum was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 October 2002, lot 568; and another was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1705.

For another Jiajing prototype, see the Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits from the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, vol. IV, Miscellaneous, Nanjing, 1936, p. 87, fig. 4. It is interesting to note that the later Qianlong examples were specifically commissioned to emulate the quality and elaborate use of the different lacquer colours on the Ming prototype.

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