A carved cinnabar lacquer document box and cover, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 剔紅五福捧壽花卉紋書箱

Compare a closely related box sold in our New York rooms, 13th / 14th September 2016, lot 351. Another comparable example with a dragon and phoenix design was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th April 1997, lot 33. Document boxes were also occasionally made out of zitan, another favourite material used at the court, and similarly fitted with gilt-bronze handles, such as a box in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II) IV. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 235.