Antique Jewelry Box with Auspicious Symbols, China (16782BKE) $385

Description

The well-crafted lacquer covered jewelry box is a fine Chinese vernacular furniture and accessories example from the late Qing Dynasty in the ^th – 19^th century for China’s emerging merchant class who rejected strict formal Ming design. This newly emerged style was made from softer woods such as elm, often brightly colored in red lacquer surfaces, intricate and sometimes extravagant designs and full of easily recognizable symbols by mostly illiterate populations. The brilliantly carved door panels are highlighted in gilt and are adorned with a woman holding the stem of an over-sized lotus symbolizing beauty and purity. Brass teardrop door pulls are used on the doors and the five drawers. The top has 5 carved bats surrounding a longevity (shou) roundel, a wish for a long life frequently used as a decorative design element for birthday gifts. The combination of five bats (wufu) around the shou means “May you be granted a long life and the Five Blessings or Happinesses” (wufu pengshou) (longevity, health, wealth, virtue and a peaceful death and is expressed by the word (fu). When depicted on a box, it becomes yet another word combination which means as “May you have a harmonious marriage with the Five Blessings” (wufu hehe) (Bartholomew, p.24) as the box (he) signifies completeness, togetherness and harmony. Given the auspicious images on this unusually fine functional piece, it probably was a wedding gift for a fortunate bride.

Sources

Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006.

Andrea and Lynde McCormick, Chinese Country Antiques: Vernacular Furniture and Accessories, c.1780-1920, Atglen, Shiffler Publishing, 2000l