Quatrefoil Box and Cover

Three dragons, vivaciously carved with sinuous, scaly bodies, horns, and beards, cavort across the lid of this quatrefoil (four-lobed) box. Dragons were associated with both waves and clouds and the so-called spinning wave design comprising the background pattern on this box first emerged in the middle Qing period in the 1700s. The sides of both box and cover are carved with the same overlapping wave pattern, punctuated by floating flower heads. Unlike other lacquer boxes on view, this container does not carry an imperial mark. Nonetheless, the dragon imagery with its court associations suggests that this work might be a product of an official Qianlong workshop.