4.9 cm. （2 in.） wide

Provenance：
Christie’s London, 10 May 2011, lot 166

The present lot stands as a testament to the integration of Western-inspired decorative elements with Chinese subjects and motif by the Imperial court. The Imperial court was fascinated by the European method of using bright and brilliantly-coloured enamels to accentuate the grandeur and beauty of an object, hence influencing the examples of painted enamels in various media evident in many existing porcelain and works of art in the Imperial collections, not limited to just clocks, snuff bottles and vases, but also on scholarly items and objects of virtu.
Painted enamels were first introduced to the Qing Court by foreign missionaries from the West during the reign of the Kangxi emperor. However, the usage and appreciation for enamels reached new height during the reign of the Qianlong emperor, and became one of the most defining and exquisite artistic achievements celebrated during the Qianlong period. Painted enamel works of this period is unsurpassed when it comes to quality, innovation and opulence. Intricate pieces such as the present lot would have been made on special commission and to be presented to the emperor as tributes.

The main subject on the cover depicting a pair of seated scholars reading in a terraced garden is possibly in reference to the Confucian ideology of the four noble occupations； these were the scholar or shi, the peasants or nong, the artisans or gong, and the merchants or shang. These four noble occupations are further represented on four lobed cartouches at the side of the box； with scenes showing a reclusive scholar fishing alone, a farmer returning home, a craftsman working indoor by a river, and a trader carrying goods over his shoulder. This hierarchical social class structure first developed as early as the late Zhou dynasty, before the commercialisation of Chinese society during the Song and Ming dynasties further blurred the lines between these four class distinctions.

Price estimate:
HKD: 800, 000 - 1, 200, 000
USD: 102, 600 - 153, 800

Auction Result:
HKD: --