A large cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze 'pheasants' rectangular box and cover, 17th century | 十七世紀 銅胎掐絲琺瑯錦雞竹石圖長方蓋盒

The present box is finely enameled with a pair of pheasants—symbols of imperial elegance—perched on rockwork surrounded by bamboo, prunus, and lotus. Its size suggests that it was probably used to store documents, scrolls, and/or books.

Compare a box of the same type, attributed to the first half of the 17th century, also supported by gilt-bronze figures of boys and with a central scene of a pair of cranes, from the collections of Pierre Uldry and T. B. Kitson, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, pl. 141 (fig. 1). Three panels depicting related scenes of pairs of birds in a landscape, attributed to the 17th century, are illustrated in ibid., pls 154-156.