A VERY RARE IMPERIAL CINNABAR LACQUER 'NINE-DRAGON' PORTABLE TEA-CEREMONY CHEST

细节

A VERY RARE IMPERIAL CINNABAR LACQUER 'NINE-DRAGON' PORTABLE TEA-CEREMONY CHEST
QIANLONG

Of long-rectangular box-form, bevelled at the four corners with the sides outlined in key-fret pattern, each panel elaborately carved with five-clawed, scaly dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls amidst turbulent-waves ground framed within a diaper border, the detachable door panel similarly decorated with an ascending full-face dragon flanked by two descending dragons, opening to reveal divided compartments accommodating finely carved cinnabar lacquer tea-drinking paraphanalia including two bowls and covers, a cylindrical lidded tea-caddy fitted upright into a hollowed rectangular box, a teapot and cover mounted with a white jade finial, the box held by gilt metal handles emerging from ruyi-hinges
15 3/8 x 7 5/8 x 11 5/8 in. (39.1 x 19.3 x 29.5 cm.)

拍品专文

Cinnabar lacquer boxes with multiple inner compartments from the Qianlong period are numerously published but one which includes a complete tea-set is unrecorded. The superb quality of the overall carving and careful gilt-metal lining of the tea vessels such as the bowls, teapot and tea-caddy, could suggest their ceremonial nature and the continuance of Chinese fascination for tea-drinking, a popular literati past-time from as early as the Tang dynasty. However, it is possible for the present portable chest to have been commissioned for Imperial outdoor travel and leisure acitivies, very similar to the food containers depicted in a picnic scene on a hanging scroll, 'Emperor Yongzheng at Leisure', illustrated in Daily Life in the Forbidden City, fig. 285.

A related portable casket with inner drawers and similarly decorated with dragons within the panels is illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, fig. 35.

(US$95,000-110,000)