Bonhams 1793 : A rare jade-inset zitan 'wan' box and cover Qianlong, the white jade 'dragon' plaque Wanli

A zitan 'wan' box and cover with white jade 'dragon' plaque Wanli

24 Nov 2012 15:00 CST Hong Kong
A Private North American Collection of Scholar's Objects
Back to auction 20909

A rare jade-inset zitan 'wan' box and cover

Qianlong, the white jade 'dragon' plaque Wanli
The exterior of the body exquisitely carved with a fine and elaborate wan ground, the cover resting on a low-sided enclosure outlined in stylised keyfret edges, all above four curved short feet at the axis, the cover with a centralised enclosure with a fitted white jade plaque boldly worked with a dragon chasing a flaming pearl above crashing waves on rockworks and amongst cloud wisps, the fearsome visage with opened jaws framed between a pair of horns and an incised 'S'-shaped body, its four limbs terminating in powerful four-clawed talons.
23cm wide. (2).

Estimate:

HK$ 800,000 - 1.2 million
US$ 100,000 - 150,000
£68,000 - 100,000

Footnotes

Provenance 來源:
Old Japanese collection

Zitan was prized by the Imperial court. Slow-growing, rare and difficult to carve, it was reserved for the highest quality commissions. It was during the Ming dynasty when the Imperial court sent officials annually to the outlaying provinces of the China, and also to Southeast Asian countries in search of these rare raw materials. Due to the lack of supplies, a large portion of the imported zitan wood was not only for immediate use, but also stockpiled for the future.

Box and covers such as the current lot were used in the Imperial retreats as containers for scholar's table objects. For an example from the Qing court collection, see a collection of jade seals and a seal-paste box with original zitan box and cover preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Small Refined Articles of the Study, Hong Kong, 2009, p.252, pl.248.

清乾隆紫檀嵌明萬曆玉委角蓋盒

盒紫檀木製，天地蓋式，四面委角，下承四矮足。蓋壁及蓋頂通身雕「萬」字錦地紋，蓋面嵌橢圓形白玉鈕，玉鈕雕海水雲龍紋，一五爪龍鋒犄長鬚，張口瞪目，盤旋於如意卷雲之中，一夜明火珠懸於身前，下面峰巒高峻，海浪翻滾，氣勢洶湧。盒底座四面淺壁，腹壁如意形口沿，底座扁圓雕迴紋一周。

紫檀木質珍貴，明代開始為宮廷所用，後因宮中木料匱乏，便遣使於東南亞蒐集紫檀原料存於宮中以供後日使用。至清朝時，宮中所使用紫檀原料皆為前朝所取。該盒造型端莊古樸，紫檀發色深沉，蓋面嵌玉玉質白潤，雕刻嫻熟，絕非出自一般工匠之手，可能為宮中陳設文房用品之器具，北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏中便有一紫檀蓋盒用於陳設玉質印料及印泥盒，見鄭珉中編，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：文玩》，香港，2009年，頁252，編號248。