of crabapple form, each modelled with a quatrelobed box resting on four feet and supporting four trays and a cover of corresponding form, each of the tiered boxes and cover with curved sides lacquered bright cinnabar and painted with a frieze depicting bats hovering near ruyi blooms interlinked with undulating leafy peony scrolls, the sides of the cover decorated with further bats and peony scrolls, the flat top rendered with three scrollwork-bordered interlocking medallions, the 'overlapping' segment framing bats, peony scrolls, tasselled chimes and wan emblems, the stand of corresponding form and modelled with a waisted neck above a cusped apron and four ruyi feet, fashioned after Japanese maki-e lacquer, lacquered dark brown and painted with stylised scrollwork and floral motifs
Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1562.
The skill of Qing dynasty craftsmen working in the lacquer medium is evident in the unusual form of these boxes and the elegant painted motif which has been set against a bright cinnabar ground, all enhanced through the use of gilt detailing. Polychrome lacquer became popular in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and wares were produced either gold engraved in the
qiangjin and
tianqi technique or brush painted, such as the present lot, which allowed greater freedom in the execution of motifs.
In both form and decoration this pair of boxes appears to be unique, with no closely related examples known to be recorded. A circular box of related style, with Qianlong mark and of the period, decorated on the sides with a similar motif of ruyi heads and bats, in the Palace Museum Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo qiqi quanji [Anthology of Chinese Lacquer], Fuzhou, 1993, pl. 127.
While works of art in the form of two interlocking circles are known, those with three circles are rare; see for example a lacquer tray with Yongzheng mark and of the period, also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in the exhibition China. The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, cat. no. 185; and a gilt-copper tiered box in the form of two interlocking circles, from the collection of A.J. Speelman, sold in these rooms, 7th April 2015, lot 118.
