A RARE CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'DRAGON' SUTRA BOX AND COVER, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

Auction Closed

September 23, 08:35 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

A RARE CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'DRAGON' SUTRA BOX AND COVER

QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

清乾隆剔紅海水龍紋經盒

of rectangular form, the cover well carved in relief through the layers of rich red lacquer with a frontal five-clawed scaly dragon beneath a pair of confronting dragons centered by a vertical rectangular panel, all against a dense ground of crisply executed tumultuous crashing waves, the waisted box decorated with mirroring rows of petal lappets and keyfret borders, the four angled bracket feet with incised flower blossoms, the inside cover similarly carved with a frontal dragon coiling around a 'Flaming Pearl' amid crested waves, the interiors and bases lacquered in black (3)

Length 13⅞ in., 35.3 cm

Spink & Son, Ltd., London, acquired by 1925.

Collection of Paul Alther.

Sotheby's London, 5th March 1974, lot 240.

English Private Collection, and thence by descent.

來源

Spink & Son, Ltd.，倫敦，1925年之前入藏

Paul Alther 收藏

倫敦蘇富比1974年3月5日，編號240

英國私人收藏，此後家族傳承

Chinese Carved Lacquer, 15th to 20th Century, Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1925, cat. no. 95.

展覽

《Chinese Carved Lacquer, 15th to 20th Century》，Spink & Son, Ltd.，倫敦，1925年，編號95

Compare related Qianlong carved cinnabar lacquer boxes used for storing religious scriptures, including a vertical box with a sliding cover carved with a scene of an assembly of Daoist deities, together with a two-volume scripture, Huangtingjing (Yellow Court Classic), preserved inside, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in the exhibition China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, cat. no. 60; another box from the Irving Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 20th March 2019, lot 809; a third example carved with a scene from the life of Buddha Shakyamuni preaching to his Buddhist disciples, formerly in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Palmer, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, vol. II, New York, 1963, pl. 167; and a further box sold in our Paris rooms, 22nd June 2017, lot 122.