Seal Paste Box, Qianlong mark and period (1736–1795). Porcelain with underglaze blue decor, 3.49 x 7.62 x 7.62 cm. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton, 96.68.1a, b.

Small covered boxes have been used in China to keep seal paste since the tenth century. The paste, made of red pigments and oils, was used to stamp paintings, calligraphy, rubbings, and books with collectors' names and seals. The bottom of this fine container bears an imperial Ch'ien-lung (1736-95) mark, whereas the lid has a sixteen-character poem written in clerical script. The poem reads:

The gathering of a person's constitution
Brings together all that is pure and virtuous;
Auspicious sun and clouds;
The sky clears to reveal the moon.