Page 44 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art London May 2018

Finely crafted with a carefully composed auspicious design,
the present vessel belongs to a group of boxes produced at the
height of lacquer carving during the Qianlong period (r. 1736-
1795). Layer upon layer of lacquer has been patiently applied
to build up a thick surface through which the craftsman has
meticulously carved a plethora of textures of the di' erent
elements of the complex design, from the delicate softness
of the petals and clouds, the naturalistic full central Þ gure
of Shoulao and the sway of his clothes, and the Þ ne array of
diaper patterns covering the ground. The artisan’s virtuosity
is further displayed through the compositional complexity
and the variety of depths and angles from which the design
emerges with vibrancy.
According to the Zaobanchu Archives of the Qing Imperial
Household Department, in the 11th month of the 8th year of
the Qianlong reign (corresponding to 1743), four boxes of this
type were presented to the Emperor, who ordered that they be
inscribed with the four-character chunshou baohe (‘precious
box of spring and longevity’) mark. The boxes were presented
again and approved by the Emperor on the 27th day of the
same month.
Although it is known that there were at least eighteen
versions of chun boxes made during the Qianlong period,
the present example is distinctive for the shou characters in
the cartouches around the sides and no other closely related
example appears to have been published. Boxes of this type,
also inscribed with chunshou baohe on the base, but with
Þ gures in the side panels, include one in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition
of Palace Lacquer Objects, Taipei, 1981, cat. no. 67; one from
the Manno Art Museum, Osaka, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong,
28 October 2002, lot 568, and again in our Hong Kong rooms,
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11 April 2008, lot 2863; another exhibited in 2000 Years
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of Chinese Lacquer, Art Gallery, Chinese University of Hong
Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 76; and a larger example from
the Avery Brundage Collection in the Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco, San Francisco, illustrated in Sir Harry Garner,
Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 90. Another variation
of circular chun boxes, carved with various ß owers within
the side cartouches, illustrated in Derek Cli' ord, Chinese
Carved Lacquer, London 1992, pls 106a and 106b, was sold at
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Christie’s New York, 30 March 2005, lot 166; and another was
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sold at Christie’s London, 14 June 1982, lot 194.
The present box was likely made as a birthday gift or as a
food container for the Chinese New Year of Spring Festival
celebration. Its design is steeped in auspicious symbolism
and derives from a Jiajing (r. 1522-66) original. The inscription
chunshou baohe is composed of the chun and shou characters,
which represent a wish for ‘ten thousand longevities and
eternal spring’ (wanshou changchun), while bao (‘treasure’
or ‘precious thing’) refers to the contents of the box, which
may be Þ lled with gold and silver coins, ingots, gems, coral,
pearls and other precious materials. Spring also represents
renewal and the beginning of the New Year; hence boxes of
this type were designed to convey the sentiment of longevity
and renewal of life. For a Jiajing prototype, see one in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, included in The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Lacquer Wares of the Yuan
and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 134.

42 SOTHEBY’S