Lot 2642. A large and impressive cinnabar lacquer 'chun' peach-shaped box and cover, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 38 cm., 14 7/8 in. Estimate 1,300,000 — 1,800,000 HKD. Lot Sold 1,820,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's 2010.

the cover finely and deeply carved through red, green, black and yellow layers with a peach-shaped panel enclosing the character chun ('spring') centred with a medallion enclosing Shou Lao and rising above a large bowl overflowing with auspicious emblems, reserved against red, green, brown and yellow radiating waves, all flanked by a pair of five-clawed scaly dragons amidst ruyi-head cloud scrolls and reserved on a wan-diaper ground, the rounded sides of the cover and box deeply carved with leafy blossoming and fruiting peach boughs, the interior and base lacquered black.

Note: The peach is among the most important auspicious symbols in Chinese culture and wares made in the form of a peach, clearly recognisable for its asymmetrical heart shape, were much favoured by the emperors as well as commoners. Peaches later became associated with Daoism and with the main concern of searching for immortality, hence its given name 'Peaches of Immortality'. The Daoist deity Shou Lao, also known as the God of Longevity, is usually depicted holding a peach, while peaches grow in the garden of the Daoist deity Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West.

During the Qing dynasty, and particularly under the reigns of the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors, the peach was one of the most favoured motifs and became linked with the five blessings of longevity, tranquillity, virtue, wealth and natural death. The present box is popularly called the 'Precious Spring Longevity Box' (Chunshou baohe) and was made as birthday gifts or as food containers used during the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival celebrations. The character chun (Spring) features centrally in the design together with the Basket of Treasures, also known as the Treasure Bowl (Jubaopan). The basket is the Chinese equivalent of the 'Horn of Plenty' and is filled with coins, ingots, corals, pearls and other precious materials. Therese Tse Bartholomew, in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 224, notes that the Qianlong emperor commissioned lacquer boxes with this design to also convey the sentiment of longevity. Therefore, the design and shape of this box makes it doubly auspicious compared to the more common circular form boxes with the same motif.

Although peach-form lacquer boxes of the Qianlong period are rare, a closely related example, but of larger proportions, was sold in these rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2866; another was sold at Christie's London, 14/17th June 1985, lot 417; and a third box was sold at Christie's New York, 23/24th February 1982, lot 509.

Circular form 'Precious Spring Longevity' boxes of the Qianlong period can be found in many important museums and private collections, including one in the Qing Court collection, and still in Beijing, published in Zhongguo qiqi quanji, vol. 6, Fuzhou, 1993, pl. 21. Qianlong boxes of the type follow closely the Jiajing prototypes of the Ming Dynasty, as seen in a Jiajing box included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 61. See also examples in the present sale, a lobed one lot 2754 and a round one Lot 2755.