A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 'DRAGON' BOX AND COVER18th centuryThe flat cover delicately carved with a five-clawed dragon confronting a smaller dragon, the two moving around a flaming pearl on a dense ground of swirling waves, encircled by a key-fret band, the sides of the box and cover decorated with hexagonal floral diaper ground, the interior and the base lacquered black.15cm (5 7/8in) wideProvenance: 十八世紀 剔紅蒼龍教子圖葵式蓋盒The present lot belongs to a group of deeply carved cinnabar lacquer boxes and covers which project a three-dimensional effect and a sense of movement through precise knifework and expert execution.pare with a square cinnabar lacquer box, Qianlong mark and of the period, with a very similar design of flying fish, illustrated inIn Pursuit of Antiquities: 40th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 2001, p.330, no.228. See also an example sold in our London rooms, 17 May 2018, lot 278.