A rare Beijing enamel pink-ground octafoil box and cover, Mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 北京銅胎畫琺瑯粉地番蓮紋瓜棱式蓋盒 《乾隆年製》款

Exquisitely enamelled boxes of this type embody the dialogue between the East and West in the last quarter of the 17th century and the resultant achievements of craftsmen working at the Enamel Workshops in the Forbidden City during the Qing period. Boxes of this type were first created under the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722) and exact reproductions, with the exception of the reign mark, were commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795). It is unusual that no aspect of the box has been even slightly re-interpreted to suit the Qianlong Emperor's taste and as such is a testament to the timeless beauty of these boxes. Two closely related lilac-ground boxes, one from the Kangxi period and another from the Qianlong reign, both from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pls 183 and 209. See also a pair of lilac-ground boxes sold in our rooms, 8th April 2014, lot 3102; and a single lilac-ground box was sold at Christie's London, 8th June 1992, lot 195.

Compare a yellow-ground box of this shape with similar decoration, with a Kangxi mark and of the period, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Enamel Ware in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl. 83, together with a Kangxi five-lobed box with similar lotus blooms on a white ground, ibid., pl. 82. A bowl decorated with a similar design of lotus blooms in a similar palette to the present is also included ibid., pl. 79.