A RECTANGULAR IVORY BOX AND COVER

Details

A RECTANGULAR IVORY BOX AND COVER
18TH CENTURY

The top of the cover finely carved in deep relief with a fish before a delicately tied bouquet comprising branches bearing mellons, berries, camellia, prunus, and magnolia, amid two bats in flight against a sea-of-waves ground, all within a cartouche and surrounded by a floral-scroll ground carved in shallow relief; similarly repeated on the short sides of the box, each of the long rectangular panels carved with figures in a river landscape scene, the interior entirely padded and lined with silk (minor age cracks)
6 7/8 in. (17.4 cm.) wide

Lot Essay

It is unsual to find rectangular ivory boxes with such fine craftsmanship. Cf. a rectangular box with sliding lid dated late 16th-early 17th century, from the collection of Mr and Mrs J. Lobel, decorated with lingzhi scrolls along the borders, illustrated in Chinese Ivories: from the Shang to the Qing, no. 185.

(US$26,000-38,000)

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