The circular cloisonné box and cover set on a short, straight foot. The domed cover is decorated with for dark red ‘chi’ dragons floating above lotus flowers, all set on a turquoise ground with paired key-fret patterns with dragon heads.
A circular cloisonné enamel ‘dragon’ box and cover (Qianlong period, 1736-1795)
Description
Dimensions: 10.5cm diameter, 6.5 cm high
Provenance:
The Morpurgo Collection, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Sotheby’s London, 8 November 2018, lot 35
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London
Dr Kenneth P. Lawley, Edinburgh (1937-2023)
The circular cloisonné box and cover set on a short, straight foot. The domed cover is decorated with for dark red ‘chi’ dragons floating above lotus flowers, all set on a turquoise ground with paired key-fret patterns with dragon heads. The sides of the box mirror this design, with lotus flowers and symmetrically arranged key-fret patterns. The recessed base is decorated with an intricate design of flowers and scrolling stems.
Circular cloisonné boxes of this size were predominantly intended to be used as incense powder boxes, as part of a set of ‘Three Friends of Incense’ – an incense burner, tool vase and powder box. Compare a similar box and cover, decorated with lotus flowers and scrolling stems, as part of an incense utensil set in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in ‘Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamel 3, Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasties (1644 -1911), The Forbidden City’, Zhang, Li, Beijing. no.5, pp. 32-3.
