Lot 261. A mother-of-pearl and silver-wire-inlaid three-tiered box and cover, 16th-17th century; 24.8cm (9 3/4in) high. Estimate £ 4,000-6,000. Sold for £ 6,250 (€ 6,982). Photo: Bonhams.

Of square form with lobed corners and covered with a reddish-brown lacquer, the cover inlaid with a scene of a boy climbing a tree giving a newly-plucked flowering branch to two companions with arms outstretched, the scene framed by a delicate band of twisted silver wire and bordered by a geometric ground above lobed floral cartouches on the sides, the box and tiers each with a lobed cartouche on each side enclosing two or three boys at play, variously riding a hobby horse, playing the flute, feeding pigs and flying butterflies on strings, the box raised on a low foot with a recessed cartouche containing a narrow landscape scene on each side, the upper and lower edges of each tier and the box edged with silver wire, the underside and interiors of plain reddish-brown lacquer. 

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 14 May 2015, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET