A CLOISONNÉ AND ZITAN ‘RUYI’ BOX AND COVER, 18TH CENTURYChina. The ruyi-shaped cloisonné plaque is brightly enameled with a six-petaled flowerhead issuing leafy scrolling vines against a turquoise-blue ground, encircled by an embossed and finely gilt copper alloy frame. The cloisonné wires are also gilt, which may indicate an Imperial connection. The Zitan wood box and cover are of an attractive grain and elegant reddish-black color, the base showing the expected crabs-claw marks.Provenance: Swedish trade, by repute previously in a Swedish private estate. The interior of the cover with an old collector’s label, ‘181’.Condition: Very good condition with old wear and manufacturing irregularities, few tiny nicks, little rubbing to gilt, and expected minor age cracks.Weight: 282.6 gDimensions: Length 16.5 cmExpert’s note: Ruyi-shaped boxes have a long history in China, but are extremely rare in cloisonné. Examples include a Sancai glazed Phoenix box, Tang Dynasty, at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3379, sold for HKD 400,000 (fig. 1), a Faux Bois porcelain box, Qianlong mark and period, at Christie’s London, 6 November 2021, lot 242, sold for GBP 12,500 (fig. 2), and an inlaid Huanghuali box, 18th century, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2018, lot 4, estimated at HKD 150,000 (fig. 3).十八世紀紫檀鑲掐絲琺瑯如意蓋盒中國。如意形掐絲琺瑯，綠松石色地，纏枝蓮紋，邊緣鎏金凸起。紫檀木蓋盒，紋路誘人，非常素雅，底可見蟹爪紋。