Page 412 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013
P. 412
382 Pomegranate splitting open conveys the auspicious wishes for fertility
A rare gilt and lacquer ‘pomegranate’ box and cover and ceaseless generations of sons, forming the rebus liukai baizi 榴開百
18th century 子(Pomegranate revealing one hundred sons). It was one of the typical
The box raised on three low feet shaped as branches and a fruit stone, motifs commonly seen in the Qing Dynasty.
the box and cover together naturalistically formed as a ripe pomegranate
issuing from a leafy branch, the cover carved with a mantis perching During the Qianlong period, carvings made in the form of fruits were
on splitting pomegranate, the interior of the cover with two peaches, fashionable at the Court and examples can be seen in various materials
a bunch of grapes and three lingzhi fungus and the interior of the box including jades, porcelains, ivory, wood etc.
with a bird perched on a gnarled branch of flowering magnolia.
40cm (15¾in) wide (2). The present lot is an unusual example and one of a few related
£9,000 - 12,000 examples, a peach-shaped lacquer box and cover, is in the Palace
HK$110,000 - 140,000 CNY85,000 - 110,000 Museum, which was made in the Palace Workshops during the Qianlong
period, illustrated by E. Rawski and J. Rawson, in China: The Three
十八世紀 描金彩漆石榴式蓋盒 Emperors 1662-1795, London, 2005, p.374, no.296. The rarity of the
piece may suggest that it was also made as an Imperial commission.
408 | Bonhams
