Lot 20. A rare imperial cinnabar lacquer box and cover, Qianlong six-character and Xiaoxia Baohe four-character marks and of the period (1736-1795); 21cm (8 1/4in) wide. Estimate HK$600,000-800,000. Sold for HK$ 687,500 (€ 82,145). Photo Bonhams.

Of lobed form, deftly carved through thick layers of rich red lacquer, the domed cover with a hexagonal cartouche featuring an elderly scholar seated within a pavilion by a lotus pond with his young attendant bringing forth a pile of books, gazing over at a distant fisherman playing the flute on a sampan against a backdrop of willow trees and mountains, the sides further decorated with twelve quatrefoil cartouches enclosing floral sprays equally spaced between lotus blossoms, all reserved on a dense ground of leafy scrolls and encased within keyfret scroll borders, the interior and base lacquered black, the interior of the cover engraved with a four-character xiaoxia baohe mark in kaishu script, the base further engraved with a six-character kaishu mark. 

Note: The four-character kaishu mark in the interior of the cover reads xiaoxia baohe, which may be translated as 'Treasured Box of Summer Retreat'.

The Qianlong emperor oversaw the production of court lacquer wares, with particular reference to cinnabar lacquer boxes and covers with dual Imperial marks, as exemplified by the present lot. According to the archives of the lacquer workshop in the Imperial Palace Workshops, Zaobanchu, located in the Forbidden City, it is recorded that on the fourth month of 1738, the Qianlong emperor ordered the workshop to produce carved lacquer wares with engraved Qianlong reign marks. It is further recorded that later during the Qianlong reign between 1771 and 1775, a number of specifically carved lacquer baohe or 'treasured boxes' were produced by order of the emperor, with specially inscribed four-character names as well as the Imperial reign marks. See Lin Mun-lee, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, p.117.

The present lot belongs to a group of deeply carved cinnabar lacquer boxes and covers which successfully project a three-dimensional visual effect and a sense of movement through precise knifework and masterful execution. However, it is rare for its hexalobed form, unlike other circular and quatrelobed examples which are more commonly seen in museum collections. Compare examples of quatrelobed boxes and covers with dual marks, illustrated by Lin Mun-lee, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, pp.121-123, nos.109-113. See further related examples of red lacquer boxes and covers with dual marks from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing: two pentalobed boxes and covers centrally decorated with figures in a landscape scene with floral cartouches at the sides, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2006, pp.12-15, nos.7 and 8; see also another circular box and cover showing a figure traversing landscape under the moonlight, the sides carved with comparable six panels of floral sprays, illustrated in ibid., pp.42-43, no.26.

Bonham's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 2 June 2016