An extremely rare famille-rose 'European subject' box and cover Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 粉彩山水西洋人物圖荷包式蓋盒

Olympia Antiques Fair, London, 2010.

奧林匹亞古董博覽會，倫敦，2010年

The quality of the famille-rose enamelled decoration on this rare box and cover, skilfully mounted in gold alloy, matches that on famous Qianlong-marked European-subject decorated in the Palace Museum, Beijing and private collections.

Compare the style of the enamelled decoration and precise treatment of the figures on a Qianlong-marked gold-ground box and cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, of Japanese inro design, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 109. See also the design on the brushpot from the collections of A.W. Bahr and Paul and Helen Bernat, sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 36 and again 9th October 2007, lot 1213. The enamelling of the figures on the interior of the current box and cover is very close. See also the famille-rose landscape panel created by Tang Ying in 1755, sold in our New York rooms, 11th September 2019, lot 663.

It is extremely rare to find foreign figures painted on porcelain and indeed foreigners were more frequently depicted on metal, especially during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, when enamelling on metal had reached its peak. This reflected the emperor's extravagant taste for showy and unusual pieces. 

The present piece represents a harmonious blend of Chinese and Western tastes. Qianlong was known for his penchant for pieces that were either technically innovative or unconventional in their design and aesthetics, and this box and cover would have been one of his 'curios' in his ceramic collection.