Lot 52 清乾隆　剔紅仙壽圖蓋盒 | A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'IMMORTALS' BOX AND COVER

清乾隆　剔紅仙壽圖蓋盒 | A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'IMMORTALS' BOX AND COVER

Incised-gilt Qianlong six-character and Xianshou Baohe four-character marks and of the period

HKD 400,000

HKD 400000 - 600000

未知

未知

Incised-gilt Qianlong six-character and Xianshou Baohe four-character marks and of the period
Of square form with lobed corners, deftly carved through thick layers of rich red lacquer, the domed cover with a cartouche depicting immortals and attendants meeting at a fenced pavilion beside a lake, all within a landscape scattered with cragged rocks and trees, framed by a key-fret border and a band of bats in flight amongst flowering and fruiting peach branches, the sides of the cover and box each decorated with four rectangular cartouches enclosing further Immortals and attendants in landscapes, all reserved on a diaper ground and framed by key-fret borders, the interior and base lacquered black, the interior incised and gilt with four characters reading Xianshou Baohe, the base with a six-character reign mark, fitted box.
28cm (11in) long. (2).
Footnotes
清乾隆　剔紅仙壽圖蓋盒
「大清乾隆年製」及「仙壽寶盒」楷書刻款
Provenance:
Acquired in Hong Kong, 2017
Zhang Rong, ed., , Beijing, 2020, pp.194-197, no.58
香港購藏，2017年
張榮主編，《巧法造化：陽明山房藏宋元明清漆器》，北京，2020年，頁194至197，編號58
The four-character mark may be translated as 'Treasured Box of Immortality and Longevity'. Closely related examples are in the Palace Museum, Taipei, including four Qianlong boxes, each with a six-character Qianlong reign mark together with a different four-character inscription, illustrated in , Taipei, 2008, pp.122–123, nos.110–113. See also two related boxes of lobed form, Qianlong, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in , Hong Kong, 2006, pp.12–15, nos.7–8.
The Qianlong Emperor closely supervised the production of Imperial lacquerware, including cinnabar lacquer boxes and covers bearing both an Imperial reign mark and an auspicious four-character inscription, as exemplified by the present lot. According to the archives of the Imperial Workshops, , in the Forbidden City, in the fourth month of 1738 the Qianlong Emperor ordered the production of carved lacquerware with Qianlong reign marks. During the latter part of the Qianlong reign, between 1771 and 1775, a number of specially carved lacquer , or 'treasured boxes', were commissioned by the Emperor, bearing four-character names alongside the Imperial reign marks; see , op.cit., p.117.
Cinnabar lacquer boxes were produced in a variety of forms. Compare with a related lobed box and cover, Qianlong reign mark and inscription, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 2 June 2016, lot 20; and a circular box and cover, mark, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 April 2022, lot 3686. A pair of boxes of similar form with indented corners, Qianlong, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 October 2016, lot 76.
參考台北故宮藏四例乾隆剔紅「寶盒」，載於《和光剔彩：故宮藏漆》，台北，2008年，頁122至123，編號110至113；以及北京故宮清宮舊藏乾隆兩例，圖見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：清代漆器》，香港，2006年，頁12至15，編號7及8。
此蓋盒署有年款，並題品名，屬乾隆御製漆作，聖監慎密嚴謹。據造辦處檔案，乾隆三年（1738）四月，聖諭雕漆須刻年款。乾隆三十六至四十年間（1771-1775），御製雕漆「寶盒」多件，年款之外，皆書四字品名，見《和光剔采》，同前註，頁117。
剔紅寶盒器形不一，對比乾隆年製六瓣葵式「消夏寶盒」，售於香港邦瀚斯，2016年6月2日，拍品編號20；圓形「瑤池寶盒」，售於香港蘇富比，2022年4月29日，拍品編號3686；以及器形相近的倭角對盒，香港蘇富比，2016年10月4日，拍品編號76。