A Ming writing or jewellery box

This small sized and rare rectangular fall front writing cabinet or jewellery box is characterised by its ebony striated edge friezes, turned feet, ebonised exotic timbers, perhaps camphor wood, and carved ebony veneers – the much desirable zǐtán[1], enriched by gilt copper hardware, from which stands out the double-headed eagle lock escutcheon as well as the side loop and drawers pull handles.

The cabinet outer surfaces decorative compositions are defined by central fields – square shaped to the side panels and rectangular to the remaining elevations, framed by narrow bone friezes and finely carved mitre joined trapezoidal borders.

On the central frontal field a pair of face to face chīlóng, immature and hornless Chinese dragons, amongst a lattice pattern of lingzhi – the sacred immortality mushroom Ganoderma lucidum – and rúyì heads – literally “as it was desired”. It is viable to suggest that the iconographic choice of chīlóng was indeed more adequate for the decorating of an export object, considering their symbolic relevance and meaning in Chinese culture, as well as their association to the emperor and the mandarin elite. On the upper front border section, Japanese damask tree flowers (Prunus mume), symbols of perseverance and purity. On the left and right side elements, flowering Narcissus, known in China as “immortal aquatic flower”, alluding to purity and prosperity, and to the lower section, flying horses, symbolic of speed, strength and perseverance.

With minor variations, the back elevation repeats the frontal iconography while the box top panel portrays, centrally placed, a pair of phoenix amongst peonies. The combination of these two elements reinforces the suspected trousseau nature of this box, as the association between phoenix, king of birds and symbol of virtue, and the peony - fùguìhuā, “wealth and honour flower”, embodies a clear reference to prosperity and justice, both expressions of marital harmony. The border sections are decorated with flying cranes amongst auspicious rúyì shaped clouds. This bird, known in Chinese as hè, stands for social hierarchy and longevity and, in the present decorative context, expresses vows of long-lasting union and eternal marriage.

The box side elevations feature identical decorative compositions. However, while the trapezoid border sections repeat previously described decorative motifs, the central panels feature back facing qílín on rocky grounds and surrounded by auspicious clouds. Portrayed in deer bodies, dragon’s heads and thick bear tales qílín embody benevolence, virtue, longevity, happiness and wisdom, their presence in this setting related to fertility, for their role as delivery vehicles of new-born babies (qílínsòngzi) to happy parents.

The box interior is organised in two overlapping rows of carved ebony veneered drawers, with peonies on the upper tier and jumping carps (lǐ), which by homophony are linked to profit and wealth (lì), power, strength and ability (lì), on the two lower fronts.

This elegant, small sized piece of furniture belongs to a rare extant group of export pieces of identical construction, materials and decorative characteristics, of which three have been recently published.[2] This unusual production, copying contemporary European prototypes, is most certainly connected to commissions by Portuguese officials based in Asia, namely in the southern Chinese coastal regions of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

Although the shape and decoration of these typologies is recognisably different from the more sober, and better known Ming furniture admired by Chinese scholars, of which some extant examples are known, they correspond perfectly to what might have been the earliest Chinese made furniture for the European market, which were referred in contemporary documentation.

In addition to Guangzhou, also known as Canton, Guangdong province capital city, one other possible production centre for this furniture is Chaozhou, a city to the east of Guangdong that famed by its high quality cabinet making of intricate carved and pierced decoration. A third alternative would be Ningbo, in neighbouring Zhejiang province, where the Portuguese settled as early as 1522, naming it Liampó.