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| 95 A fine and rare jade and gilt-bronze box and cover Qianlong period Length: 6 3/4 in, 17.1 cm of quatrefoil section and supported on a similarly shaped foot. The sides of both box and cover are worked in relief with panels of leafy, floral sprays, two to each lobe. The cover is inset with a lobed, reticulated gilt-bronze plaque, cast with four moveable two-horned, five-clawed, scaly dragons writhing amid clouds and above mountains around a central flaming pearl. The jade is a spinach-green tone with some mottling. Formerly in the collection of Mrs. Ian Beattie. |
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It is extremely rare to find a box set with a reticulated gilt-bronze plaque. This kind of metalwork is associated with the best workmanship of the imperial ateliers during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. For a similarly worked, reticulated gilt-bronze bowl with a Qianlong mark, see La Cité interdite: Vie publique et privée des empereurs de Chine 1644-1911, no. 58, pp. 186-7. |
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