This box is tall, with a lid, and a ring foot. The entire piece is covered with red lacquer; the interior of the box and lid, and the base, are coated with black lacquer. The carved decoration on the box is in red cinnabar lacquer. Running round the top of the lid there is a continuous band of “thunder” motif, formed from twin bands of “bowstring” pattern. On top of the “thunder” pattern, on the front there is an image of auspicious clouds and dragons ascending into the air; running round the lip where the lid and box meet, there is another band of “thunder” motif, while the exterior of both the box and the lid has two sets of a pair of dragons playing with pearls; a ninth dragon is on the top of the lid. Inside the lid, towards the top, the four characters for “Nine Dragons Jewel Box” have been written on in gold. On the base, again in gold, there is a “seal impression” of six characters in the Clerical Script, in three lines of two characters each, reading “Made in the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty.” The dragons with which this jewel box is decorated give it an imposing appearance. The variation in the way the clouds and dragons are depicted imbues the box with freshness and vigor; adding to this the purity of the red lacquer coloration and the skillful carving, this is without question a work fit for an imperial palace. Compare with the very similar lacquer box in the National Palace Museum in Taipei has in its collections a similar box. See Ch’en Hui-hsia, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum , Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2008, p. 135.

D: 28 cm