Lacquer Box incised in gold( Ch'iang Chin).China or Ryukyu 18th century.

Black lacquer box finely incised with motifs of birds, dormice, vines and flowers, the golden designs stand out pleasantly against the black background with discretion. This Chinese lacquer technique called Ch'iang Chin is very old, it consists of making slight incisions on the dry lacquer then filling them with gold powder mixed with fresh lacquer for good, lasting adhesion. On the box presented here, the very thick and solid lacquer is a sign of excellent quality which has allowed it to calmly cross the centuries. In fact, despite the numerous frictions and shocks suffered, the lacquer has not flaked in any place. The Ch'iang Chin lacquers are rare and few examples are known, the V&A houses one, as well as the British, others are housed in the main temples of Japan, the Metropolitan has a magnificent example on a red background. But what is exceptionally rare in our box is the presence inside of small boxes of irregular shapes, offering a puzzle, difficult to put together, an amusing pastime for a scholar. It is believed that this lacquer was created on one of the islands of the Ryukyu "bow" between Taiwan and Kyushu because we perceive there a mixture of Sino-Japanese culture but this is not a certainty, it could be Chinese because the funds are lacquered in yellow ocher, a color found (accompanied by green and brown) on the best Chinese polychrome lacquers from the 18th century, predominantly cinnabar red. We do not know of Ryukyu ocher lacquers. If the majority of Ch'iang-Chin lacquers housed in the Temples and Museums are from the Ming period, ours is later, in fact a decoration of dormice among grapes appearing in the 4 corners of the cover allows us to date it to around 1800, because this decoration was often represented on Chinese porcelain from the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods.
246x246x45mm
Interiors lacquered in red. Ocher yellow lacquered underside. Split lid. Usual wear.The mounting are in pale yellow bronze almost white.
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