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

Description

The well-crafted lacquer covered jewelry box is a fine example of Chinese vernacular furniture created during the late Qing Dynasty in the 18^th – 19^th centuries for China’s emerging middle class of merchants, trades people and bankers who rejected strict formal Ming design. This newly emerged furniture style was made from softer woods such as elm, often brightly colored in red, lacquer surfaces, intricate and sometimes extravagant designs and full of symbols easily recognizable by generally illiterate populations. As stated by McCormick, “This furniture also, sadly represents the end of a cultural era…of a well-honed; craft and prolific industry in China for over a thousand years.” (pg.11). The brilliantly carved door panels on this elegant jewelry box are highlighted in gilt and are each adorned with a young woman holding the stem of an over-sized lotus symbolizing beauty and purity. Brass teardrop door pulls are used on the doors and on the five deep drawers. The top of the box has five 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) which are health, wealth, longevity, virtue and a peaceful death and can be expressed by the word (fu). When depicted on a box, it becomes yet another word combination which translates 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-and-utilitarian piece, it probably was a wedding gift for the fortunate bride. This piece is in the VA Accessories-and-Furniture Collection.

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