Tags: box | enamel | National Palace Museum

Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911)
Height: 9.8 cm, width: 17.8 cm 
 
Highlighted against a backdrop of decoration in two dense levels of gold workmanship on a gilt box are flowers, a character for longevity (shou), and a bat. The champleve enamelware is lustrous and colorful. This technique of selectively firing filled enamelware glazes is also commonly known as "selective blue" or "fired blue". The exquisite and dense layers of the gold filament decoration on the box have been highlighted with the interspersed enamelware blue glaze, making for a brilliant and eye-dazzling piece.

Text: Shih Ching-fei

 
Text and images are provided by National Palace Museum