A fine cinnabar lacquer four-tiered box and cover - 15th/16th century

Of square section with rounded corners, supported on a spreading foot, the cover carved with an attendant carrying a wrapped qin beside a scholar holding a sceptre by a bridge leading to a pavilion with an attendant at its entrance, all opposite a building on an island in a mountainous river landscape, the sides deeply carved with shaped cartouches enclosing the Flowers of the Four Seasons reserved on an ochre ground and flanked by floral honeycomb diaper grounds, the foot carved with lingzhi scrolls at the corners flanking shaped aprons, the interiors and underside black lacquered. 13.2cm (5¼in) high. (5). Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000

Footnote: A similar four-tiered carved box and cover in the Palace Museum is illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1985, no. 95.

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Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 12 May 2008. New Bond Street