A ZITAN 'MALLOW' INCENSE BOX AND COVER QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

the top of the cover and base carved with low-relief lines forming petals radiating out from a central medallion, the sides with lines forming stylized petals, the wood of dark brown color

Boxes of this attractive mallow shape are found in a number of materials; for example see a larger zongzhu wood example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Peking Palace Museum. Treasures of the Forbidden City, London, 1982, pl. 194; a lac-burgaute example sold in our London rooms, 13th May 2009, lot 95; and a slightly smaller example carved from bamboo sold at Christie's New York, 21st September 2004, lot 46. See, another related box, of almost identical shape and carving, but of slightly larger size and with an imperial inscription, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 3333.

The form of the present box is reminiscent of Song dynasty boxes made in silver; for example see a box in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in So Gen no bi, Tokyo, 2004, pl. 24, together with a similarly shaped qingbai box, fig. 35, both attributed to the Southern Song period (1127-1279).