Description: Ref:663TC http://hygra.com/box/663TC
Important high quality Chinese Export Lacquer Tea Chest of
decorated with scenes which are significant both in trading terms
and in Sino-European relations and art.
The lacquer work on the top is raised; it has been built up
slowly layer by layer.
The scenes: The orchestration of activity reflects the descriptions
of gardens with islands and water where business as well as
pleasure was the natural way of life.
For the Chinese water is lucky, as most business transactions took
place near rivers which were also used for transporting commodities.
The association of luck with water is still strong today. The
painting is in two colours of gold is executed with mastery of art
of the art of brush stroke: The traders are depicted with a
minimum of of lines.
The cultured formal Chinese traders are toing and froing from
the focal point which appears to be a table at which some important
robed figures are gathered. The impression given is of negotiation
rather than festivity.
The most unusual feature of the decoration is the border which
features Chinese coins interwoven with bamboo and flowers
on the top. The coins bear the reign titles of Ming and Qing
emperors.
The cash coins depicted include those of The Jiaqing Emperor, Hong Xiuquan, Qing Dynasty, Taiping, The Prince of Tang, The Qianlong Emperor, The Hongwu Emperor, Taiping Tianguo, The Yongle Emperor, The Daoguang Emperor, The Guangxu Emperor,
The Hongwu Emperor, The Yongzheng Emperor, Ming Ming, The Kangxi Emperor, The Wanli Emperor and the last Emperor
Puyi.
As Canton was not under the control of the Taiping,
太平,
the inclusion of
this coin strikes a very rare bold seditious note, perhaps. It must
have been inserted in honor of the commissioning client.
Coins in this context must be symbolic of the wealth generated
through trade. The "bamboo", a richly significant oriental
motif, is meaningful here, in its quality as a homonym with
the Chinese word "to wish".
Inside there is a hinged pewter tea container. The top has engraved depictions of the Immortals.
The quality of work is usually associated with Chinese
lacquer exported in the early 19th Century.
The presence of some of the coins of the last Emperor's indicates that
the tea caddy was made at the end of the 19th Century.
Puyi's 宣統 abdication in 1912 marked the end of millennia of dynastic rule in China and thus he is known throughout the world by the sobriquet
, nickname, "The Last Emperor" of China.
Origin: China; Circa:
1900; Materials: lacquer on
wood: Pewter Liner.
Size: 28 cm wide by 20 cm by 16 cm: 11.1 inches wide
by 7.9 inches by 6.3 inches.
Condition: good
overall; working lock and key; some shrinkage to top with slight
losses: see images
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