Lot 3128. A large carved polychrome lacquer ‘Spring’ circular box and cover, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 15 1/8 in. (38.3 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000. Price realised HKD 937,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The cover with layers of lacquer in red, black, and brown is deeply and crisply carved with Shoulao seated under a pine in a roundel within a large ‘Chun’ (spring) character and flanked by a pair of five-clawed dragons amidst clouds above a basin overflowing with auspicious emblems. On the rounded sides of the box and cover, four shaped cartouches enclosing leafy sprays of peaches are divided by the Eight Buddhist Emblems, Bajixiang, against a dense diaper with lozenge. The interior and base are lacquered black.

Provenance: Acquired in London, circa 1990.

Note: A similar box and cover with a gilt Qianlong six-character mark but a red lacquered interior in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji: Lacquer, Beijing, vol. 8, 1989, pl. 172, p. 171. Another similar box in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is illustrated in the Gugong qiqi tezhan mulu (A Special Exhibition of Lacquer Wares in the Palace Museum), Taipei, 1981, pl. 67, together with the Jiajing prototype of the box, no. 37.