A RARE TIANQI AND QIANJIN LACQUER RECTANGULAR CHESTLate Ming Dynasty The chest with a detachable front panel concealing a shelf; the top, rear, two sides and front panels each carved through layers of red and black lacquer with a barbed cartouche enclosing magpies hovering over convoluted and pitted rocks issuing sprigs of blossoming lotus flowers and peonies, the base decorated with a vine and lotus scroll border band of lotus petals. 39.5cm (15 1/2in) wide x 23cm 9in) deep x 40cm (15 6/8in) high. (2). 明晚期 戧金填漆開光花石圖長方匣 Lacquer chests of similar design dating to the Ming dynasty are rare. They were usually referred to as menchu , literally meaning 'cabinets with a sealed door'. It may have been used as a dressing case by both men and women alike to store toiletries, jewellery and other valuables; they could have also been used on desks for storing stationery and writing implements; see S.Handler, The Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture , Hong Kong, 2001, p.46, and G.Wu Bruce, The Best of the Best: The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture , Hong Kong, 2017, vol.2, p.472. pare with a similarly-shaped lacquer cabinet, Ming dynasty, engraved with polychrome dragon and phoenix designs, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by N.De Bisscop in Chinees Lakweerk , Zutphen, 1982, p.92, fig.102. Another cabinet, decorated with dragons and phoenixes, Jiajing mark and of the period, is illustrated in Theplete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties , Shanghai, 2006, pp.202-203, no.160. pare with a related tianqi and qiangjin lacquer chest, Jiajing mark and of the period, which was sold at Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 26.