Lot 2139. A rare carved ruby-red glass circular box and cover, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 180,000 - HKD 250,000. Price realised HKD 187,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The gently rounded cover is superbly carved in varying levels of relief with a sinuous kuidragon opposite a phoenix, their bodies composed of bifurcating lingzhi scroll encircling the sides of the cover. The exterior of the box is similarly carved with a pair of young chidragons surrounding the plain base.

Provenance: A San Francisco collection
Acquired in 2010 

Note: The extremely fine carving and motifs found on the present box relate very closely to two examples of Imperial carved ruby-red glass ewers bearing Qianlong reign marks. The first, carved with the same design of phoenix on one side and a dragon on the other is in the collection of C.P. Lin, illustrated in The Grandeur of Chinese Art Treasures: Min Chiu Society Golden Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 418, no. 272. The second, from the Shorenstein Collection, is decorated with dragons on both sides, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2928. A Qianlong-marked double vase, also decorated with pairs of opposing archaistic dragons and phoenix in the Andrew K. F. Lee Collection is illustrated in Elegance and Radiance - Grandeur in Qing Glass - The Andrew K. F. Lee Collection, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 280, no. 104.

The Qianlong Emperor's preference for ruby glass can be gauged from the fact that the first entries in the Palace Archives relating to glass in the first year of the Qianlong reign were for a bright red glass vase, a vase with red overlay kui dragons on clear glass and a vase with red overlay on opaque white glass as discussed in Luster of Autumn Water - Glass of the Qing Imperial Workshop, Beijing, 2005, p. 74.

Christie's. Imperial Sale, Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 May 2013, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall