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Rare chariot Impérial en laque rouge sculpté. Chine, dynastie Qing, époque Qianlong (1736-1795) - Photo Sotheby's

composé d'une base rectangulaire reposant sur quatre roues ajourées décorées de têtes de ruyi et cerclées de bronze doré, s'ouvrant à un tiroir latéral, les côtés sculptés de fleurs de lotus sur fond géométrique, supportant une partie centrale légèrement en retrait encadrée aux quatre angles de colonnettes en bronze doré, entièrement habillée de panneaux verticaux sculptés de diverses fleurs sur fond noir, surmontée d'une troisième et dernière partie plus large composée d'un plateau accueillant quatre boîtes en angle droit autour d'une boîte centrale, toutes très finement sculptées de lotus et rinceaux sur le dessus et d'un motif géométrique se répétant sur les côtés (24); 28 x 32 x 22 cm, 11 x 12 1/2  x 8 5/8  in. Estimation: 120,000 - 150,000 EUR. Lot. Vendu 144,750 EUR

A rare Imperial cinnabar lacquer four-wheeled cart, China, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795) 

PROVENANCE: Collection of Dottore Bruno Canto, Milan.
Presented to his daughter on her marriage in 1948 and thence in the family by descent.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Carved lacquer containers in the form of a four wheeled cart were made to satisfy the Qianlong emperor’s passion for unusual boxes made to hide or camouflage objects in a curios way or to contain small objects he much treasured, hence often referred to as ‘curio or treasure boxes’. The emperor also had a great interest in objects that looked like something else or appeared to have been made in a different material. Boxes of this type served a number of functions; they were collector’s boxes made to contain scholarly objects, possibly a writing set, such as the cart in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1971, pl. 41, the top of which is similarly fitted with five smaller containers; or functioned as wheeled incense boxes, an example of which can be found in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Carved Lacquer in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1985, pl. 361, of similar form, top and wheels, but the side made in openwork to allow the incense smoke to exit.

While a number of carved cinnabar-lacquer wheeled carts of this type are known in important museum and private collections, the present example is especially fine with its intricate and deep carving. Its form is modelled after imperial carriages, as depicted on the court painting titled Emperor Kangxi’s Tour of the South by Wang Hui and others, published in Court Painting of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1992, pl. 16, where four similar carriages are shown in a lined procession.

Further examples of cart-form containers of this type include one from the collection of Her Majesty Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, with twelve side panels carved with a flower design emblematic of each month, included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. no. 2334; one from the collection of A.W. Bahr, illustrated in A. W. Bahr, Old Chinese Porcelain and Works of Art in China, London, 1911, pl.CXVII (Fig. 1); another offered in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2008, lot 2213, with double tiers; and a further example, the cover simulating three scrolls piled on an album, property of the Right Honorable Lord Hollenden, sold in our London rooms, 18/19th December 1973, lot 464, attributed to Qianlong’s reign.

Sotheby's. Arts d'Asie. Paris | 18 déc. 2012 www.sothebys.com