Page 186 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

86
A RARE CANTON EXPORT LACQUER ‘TEA-PRODUCTION-
SUBJECT’ RECTANGULAR BOX AND HINGED COVER
Jiaqing-Daoguang period, circa 1820-1830
Elaborately gilt on the black lacquer ground on all four vertical sides
and on top with very unusual scenes of tea production copying the
well-known sets of gouache sets sold in albums to foreigners at
Canton, the details densely drawn and carefully delineated depicting
tea sifting, sorting and packing, the inside of the flat hinged cover with
two bushy clusters of plants set on a rising ground, and bordered by
leafy scrolls, the box interior with a single liftable tray.
10 3/4in (27.3cm) across

$2,000 - 3,000
嘉慶至道光時期 約1820-1830年 黑漆描金《製茶圖》長方蓋盒

See Carl Crossman, The Decorative Art of the China Trade, p. 279, pl.
156, for another example of a tea-production black and gilt lacquer
rectangular box and cover, a tea cady now in the collection of the
Peabody-Essex Museum. Nothing could have been a more suitable
memento of a trip to Canton to acquire supplies of the sealed airtight
roasted tea leaves than a black and gold lacquer work box or caddy
depicting the largely fanciful scenes of preparing the raw leaves for
safe onward shipment to a Western harborside wholesale auction
where European merchants specialising in Chinese goods would
compete to bid for the earliest and freshest tea cargoes to arrive from
the East after a trading trip of several months.

184 | BONHAMS