Page 341 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

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A rare partially-gilt bronze miniature chest for the
Japanese market
17th/18th century
The intricately-constructed rectangular chest with gilt
squirrels and grapes, a phoenix, figures by a pagoda and
lotus flowers against a reticulated foliate ground, the chest
containing a gilt-bronze miniature jardinière fitting into
the top, and underneath with one box and cover beside
a set of three tiered boxes, the cover of the chest with
a gilt Buddhist lion looking up at a four-clawed dragon
descending as the lower body of another dragon ascends
amid cloud scrolls against a finely-reticulated ground of
bamboo and prunus with gilt details, the chest and cover
fastened with a single pin through the cover and across
the loop handles decorated on each side with a dragon
chasing a flaming pearl beneath Daoist symbols, the
handles supported on the lobed flat foot.
10cm (4in) wide (9).
£15,000 - 20,000
HK$180,000 - 240,000 CNY140,000 - 190,000
十七/十八世紀 銅局部鎏金迷你櫃子(外銷日本)
Compare two related miniature chests, one dated to
the late Ming Dynasty and the other to the early Qing
dynasty, illustrated in Sydney .L. Moss, The Second Bronze
Age: Later Chinese Metalwork, London, 1991, nos.41-42
respectively. See also a very similar miniature chest which
sold at Sotheby’s London, 7 November 2012, lot 286.

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