ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2002 Organic - Item 125

125 An extremely fine and rare imperial lacquer and appliqué treasure cabinet Qianlong period Length: 14N in, 37.5 cm supported on a low, integral stand with a shaped apron and four bracket feet, above which is a drawer, the two-door cabinet has another drawer above and a pierced, gilt gallery. The doors and sides of the cabinet are painted and have wood and painted ivory relief decoration of rocks, flowers and trees, including fruiting peach, pomegranate, vine and magnolia. The drawers are applied with gilt fret carving and painted ivory reliefs of finger citrons that, together with the peach and pomegranate, form the Three Abundances, San duo. The stand and rims are lacquered red and have gilt decoration of flowers and leaves, and the top is similarly decorated with lotus flowers and tied leaves. Separately made to fit on top of the cabinet are three scroll containers: one with three compartments, one with two and one single, all in red lacquer with gilt key-fret decoration and ivory ends. There is also a separate album box, on which the scrolls can rest, with ivory sides simulating a book; the top and base are lacquered red and the top has painted gilt decoration of lotus around a central, shaped cartouche of a blossom and tied leaves, and the inside is lacquered black. Lastly, there is a separate two-drawer box, the drawers with ivory ends simulating volumes of books; the sides, base and top are lacquered red with an overall gilt flower and wan diaper pattern, one side having ivory mock clasps, and the insides are lacquered black. With three contemporary cloth-covered stands for the containers.

It is extremely rare to find a cabinet with its original scroll and album containers and their contemporary stands. A very similar wood cabinet, with seemingly identical ivory-relief decoration, but lacking the boxes and drawers, is illustrated in Wong and Goh, Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty: Treasures from the Shenyang Palace Museum, China, pp. 70–1. For similar, separate scroll albums and containers, see Yang and Desroches, The Imperial Packing Art of the Qing Dynasty, no. 33, pp. 114–15, and no. 36, pp. 118–19; Wu, Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, no. 40; and Piotrovski, Treasures of Catherine the Great, no. 400, pp. 238–9.