A Chinese Carved Cinnabar Lacquer Floral Box and Cover, probably early Ming Dynasty, of circular section, the cover carved and incised through layers of lacquer with diverse budding and flowering plants amongst stems, the underside similarly carved, each section with side also carved with continuous floral frieze, including camellias and lotus, black lacquered internally, 31cm diameter, 10cm high

Provenance: Sir Rutherford Alcock KCB (May 1809-2 Nov 1897). 1844 appointed Consul at Fuchow in China. He earned promotion to the Consulate at Shanghai. He worked in Shanghai until 1846. In 1858 he was appointed Consul-General in Japan. He was organiser of the Japanese Display at the 1862 London International Exhibition. He returned to England in March 1862, but in 1864, having returned to Japan, was subsequently transferred to Peking where he represented the British Government until 1869 when he retired.

The box comes with a hand-written note concerning Sir Rutherford Alcock, author of The Art and Art Industries of Japan, London 1878. Also "The facts mentioned over clearly prove the exceptional opportunities Sir Rutherford had for acquiring choice examples of works of art first hand, and at a time when the demand was to all instants non-existent. In China the Taiping Rebellion had just ceased and impoverished the country generally, it is known at this period choice examples were on the market and changing hands through the owners' dire straits financially & see. These brief facts show the box to be of exceptional interest and undoubtedly a very choice specimen".