FIVE DYNASTIES PERIOD, 10TH CENTURY

Intended to contain precious substances and objects, Yue ware covered boxes of this type were highly treasured in the ancient time. The boxes’ high status is reflected in the lavish decorations, among which the relief carving such as that displayed on the current piece is the most sophisticated and expensive technique. A Yue ware box decorated with peony motif but with a ring of grooves surrounding the central roundel is in the Art Institute of Chicago, and is illustrated by Yutaka Mino and K. R. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1986, pp. 132-133, no. 49. Compare, also, a fragment of a similar Yue ware ‘peony’ box found at the Yue ware kilns in Shangyu Xian, illustrated in ibid, p. 132, fig. 49b.