Bonhams
Lot 68
PETIT CABINET EN LAQUE NOIR ET INCRUSTATIONS EN PIERRES DURES ET NACREÉpoque Qianlong (1736-1795)A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID AND HARDSTONE-EMBELLISHED BLACK LACQUER TABLE CABINET, GUANPIXIANGQianlong（1736-1795）The black-lacquered cabinet of rectangular form, set with a pair of hinged doors, each with a recessed lobed panel embellished with mother-of-pearl, malachite, steatite, coral and wood inlays with various antiques around a vase with flowers, the sides decorated with a bat hovering above a flowering branch, the interior with an arrangement of six fitted drawers of various sizes decorated with different flowering and fruiting sprays, the hinged cover opening to reveal a removable tray inlaid with blossoming branches repeated on the inside of the cover, the cover decorated with a central rosette comprising four lotus flowers framed by formal lotus sprays, all within a squared archaistic scroll interspersed with ruyi-heads, the chamfered shoulder with narrow borders of confronted scrolled dragons and paired floral sprays before the straight sides with bats wreathed in clouds, the panels all with dense mother-of-pearl inlaid diaper borders, all raised on a flat base decorated on the front with cloud scrolls and on the sides with flower sprays, with a shaped gilt-metal lockplate and ruyi-shaped clasp, above a pair of shaped plates and pulls, the sides set with a pair of gilt-metal bail handles, later wood stand. 41cm (16 1/8in) wide x 34cm (13 3/8in) deep x 40cm (15 3/4in) high.Footnotes:清乾隆 黑漆嵌百寶官皮箱Small cabinets such as this piece were used as dressing cases by both men and women to store toiletries, or they were used on desks for the storage of stationary, writing implements and seals. Called guanpixiang, official boxes, their form and construction with its multiple drawers and sometimes trays resembles a cabinet rather than a box, and they were more often made in huanghuali or zitan. This fine cabinet is rather unusual and belongs to a small group objects inlaid with hardstones, jade and mother of pearl. The technique of inlaying a wide variety of precious and semi-precious stones and other materials onto wood and lacquer is attributed to the Ming master carver Zhou Zhu, active in Yangzhou in the Jiajing reign. Compare two hardstone-embellished lacquer table screens, illustrated in Palace Museum (ed.),Classics of the Forbidden City. Imperial Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing, 2008, figs. 312 and 313.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
