A cinnabar carved lacquer box and cover. 18th century
In shape of a plum blossom, the flat panel on the lid carved with the immortals Cao Guojiu with castagnettes and Han Xianzi playing the flute, both seated at a rock table in a landscape with trees and mountains in the background. The body of the cover and the box carved with swirling waves. Black lacquer to the inside and base. Small crack with restoration, re- lacquering, and small chips.
Height 12.2 cm; diameter 29.6 cm
This type of crisply carved lobed cinnabar lacquer box seems to have been quite popular in the 18th century as documented by several examples of nearly the same size. What they have in common is the dense pattern of billowing waves on the outside of the upper and lower parts, as well as the thin border surrounding the pictorial motif on the flattened top of the lid. The border consists of a garland of peach branches interspersed with bats. The boxes differ only in the number of immortals represented. They are embedded in a landscape with a towering deciduous tree, rolling hills disappearing into the distance and narrow banks of clouds high-up in the sky.
Boxes from this group came up for auction at Christie's London on 8.11.2011 (lot 262), at Christie's Hong Kong on 28.5.2014 (lot 3511) and at Christie's London on 15.10.2019 (lot 15).
十八世紀 剔紅梅花盒
來源：德國南部私人收藏
Provenance
Private collection, Southern Germany