Page 136 - March 17 2017 Chinese Art NYC, Christies

ANOTHER PROPERTY

~1113
A RARE ZITAN RUYI SCEPTER-FORM ‘NINE-DRAGON’ BOX AND COVER

18TH CENTURY
The cover is carved in high relief from a solid piece of zitan with nine fve-clawed dragons amidst swirling
waves, the dragon at the top is shown full face while encircling a faming pearl. The box has vertical sides
mounted on a base carved en suite on the bottom rim to continue the cover design. The wood has a deep
purple tone richly sufused with golden fecks.
18¿ in. (46.1 cm.) long
$40,000-60,000
The refned quality of the carving and luxurious use of use high-quality zitan in the construction of this rare
ruyi scepter box may suggest it was made in Guangdong as a tribute to the Imperial Court or by craftsmen
from Guangdong working in the Zaobanchu (Imperial Palace Workshops). The style of carving is closely
comparable to that found on a pair of zitan compound cabinets in the Yangxin dian, the Hall of Mental
Cultivation in the Forbidden City, illustrated by Yang Boda in Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court,
Hong Kong, 1987, p. 38, fg. 14, where the author attributes them to the Guangdong Workshop.
The production of important objects decorated with nine imperial dragons reached its height during the
reign of the Qianlong Emperor. Dragons were often specifcally associated with the number nine and
it was believed that the dragon had nine attributes and also had nine sons. It was also thought that the
dragon’s body had 117 scales - a multiple of nine (9 x 13) of which 81 were yang scales (9 x 9) and 36 were
yin scales (9 x 4). This ritual association between the imperial dragon and the number nine is particularly
apparent in the strict regulation of the elaborate nine-dragon robes made for the Qing imperial court.
清十八世紀 紫檀雕九龍紋如意形蓋盒

(another view)

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