A FINELY CARVED HARDWOOD 'DRAGON' CABINET AND STAND

Description:

China, Qing dynasty
55,5 x 38 x 15,5 cm ( m.S.)
The rectangular cabinet with chamfered corners, the double doors at the front framed and secured by four hinges and a locking mechanism, intricately carved on each side with a fierce five-clawed dragon flapping its wings amidst stormy waves in search of a flaming pearl, with another dragon gazing towards it in high relief, the same decoration repeated on both sides. The whole is set on a matching rectangular pedestal resting on four feet on the axis, and on each side is a ruyi-shaped cartouche with further dragon motifs.
Old German private collection, assembled before 1998
For a carving of identical subject matter and comparable quality, see an Imperial zitan box from the Qing Court Collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, carved with five-clawed dragons, containing a famous inscribed jade album of eighteen luohan. It is illustrated in Jadeware (II). The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2008, pg.9, no.5.
This cabinet would have been commissioned to hold antique curio or small scholar's objects. For a related example of a stationery box comprising three drawers below a cabinet, see a bamboo veneer example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking. Treasures of the Forbidden City, London, 1982, pl. 193. - Very minor traces of age, slightly chipped