Ɏ A HUANGHUALI WEIQI BOX AND COVER, QING DYNASTY

Ɏ A HUANGHUALI WEIQI BOX AND COVER, QING DYNASTY China, 1644-1912. The compressed globular body supported on three shallow legs and carved in deep relief with two vases, one decorated with a dragon and the other with an ice-crack glaze, magnolias, peonies, hibiscuses, and chrysanthemums, as well as a handled woven basket with pomegranates. The domed circular cover with lotuses and a butterfly. Provenance: Karl Zeilinger (1944-2014), a collector of Asian art and antique weapons from Nürnberg, Germany. Thence by descent in the same family. Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, natural age cracks, few minuscule nicks, occasional light scratches, and traces of gilt Weight: 2,994 g Dimensions: Height 19 cm Literature comparison: A similar pair of weiqi boxes made from huanghuali wood is illustrated in S. Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Furniture, California, 2001, p. 200. Another pair, lacking the finely carved decoration seen on the present piece, was included in the exhibition The Imperial Packing Art of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1999, cat.no. 122, and a further pair in Qing Legacies - the Sumptuous Art of Imperial Packaging, Macau, 2000, cat.no. 94. Auction result comparison: Compare with a related but smaller zitan weiqi box and cover at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Chinese Art on 3-4 December 2015, lot 319, sold for HKD 81,250. This item contains ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoise shell, and/or some types of tropical wood and is subject to CITES when exporting outside the EU. It is typically not possible to export such items outside of the EU, including to the UK. Therefore, after this item has the necessary trade certificate, it can only be shipped within the EU or picked up in our gallery in person.