Expertly carved in high relief through layers of red lacquer, the cover features a central cartouche depicting the Daoist Immortal Lu Dongbin (吕洞宾道教), accompanied by a demon bearing a double-gourd.
A three-coloured lacquer peach-shaped ‘sanduo’ box and cover (Qianlong period, 1736-1795)
Description
Dimensions: 16cm high
Provenance:
A private European collection
Expertly carved in high relief through layers of red lacquer, the cover features a central cartouche depicting the Daoist Immortal Lu Dongbin (吕洞宾道教), accompanied by a demon bearing a double-gourd. The figures are shown standing on a shoreline beside a pine tree emerging from rock formations. This central scene is set against a black lacquer lake and an ochre lacquer skyline, framed by intricate scrolls of peaches, finger citrons, and pomegranates intertwined with dense foliage. The matching box is similarly adorned, with the interior and base finished in black lacquer.
Compare with a similar pair of peach-shaped boxes and covers with Daoist Immortals, Qianlong, presented by the Qianlong emperor to Lord Macartney’s Embassy of 1792-1794, illustrated in Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, J. Ayers, London, 2016, p. 865, nos. 1988-1989. A related cinnabar lacquer peach box and cover with an Immortal on the cover, dated 18th century, was sold at Sotheby’s London, 18 May 2018, lot 458.
