Page 14 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

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PROPERTY OF A LADY 清乾隆 釉裏紅番蓮紋印盒
A FINE AND RARE COPPER-RED ‘LOTUS’ 《大清乾隆年製》款
SEAL PASTE BOX AND COVER
來源：
SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG
鴻禧美術館收藏，台北
of square form, with straight sides resting on four short 倫敦蘇富比2001年6月20日，編號26
bracket feet, the sides decorated in copper red with floral
scrolls, the gently domed cover with a stylised lotus bloom
centred with a shou medallion, wreathed by four further
blooms flanked by curling foliage, all within a border of lotus
blooms interlaced with ruyi heads, the base inscribed in
underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark
5.5 cm, 2⅛ in.
PROVENANCE
Collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei.
Sotheby’s London, 20th June 2001, lot 26.
HK$ 600,000-800,000
US$ 77,000-103,000

This superbly potted small porcelain box was created as
a container for seal paste. However, the precision of its
construction and the delicacy of its painting, so exquisitely
rendered in underglaze copper-red with an auspicious shou
character within floral medallions, elevate it beyond a mere
utilitarian receptacle to a luxurious work of art of sublime
beauty.
The opulence of its decoration is reminiscent of other boxes
of the period created using luxury materials, including the
celebrated coral and gold box and cover from the Carl Kempe
Collection collection, included in the exhibitions The Arts of the
Ch’ing Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1963-64,
cat.no. 354, and Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain: The Kempe
Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat.no. 31, and
sold in these rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2310. Clearly created
for the personal use of the Imperial family, the decoration
of the Kempe box, like the current porcelain box, consists of
stylised blossoms encircling an auspicious shou character. It is
likely that both boxes were commissioned as birthday gifts for
members of the Imperial family.
The only other recorded copper-red porcelain seal paste box
and cover of this form and decoration appears to be another
example of similar size with an effaced mark, sold at Christie’s
New York, 19th March 2008, lot 638.

Mark

12 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比