Qing Chinese Antique Wood Carved Box

Qing Chinese Antique Wood Carved Box with Fine Details

Antique Chinese wood box with stunning fine carving details. (From A Private Collection in US)

Estimated from mid/late Qing Dynasty, Guang Zhou 13 factories also known as the 13 trade houses (晚清广州13行人物木箱） made item.

Size: 8” X 14” x 9” (20.5 cm x 35 cm x 22 cm)

Few figures are missing head and there is light recess on top cover.

About thirteen factories 十三行:

Canton (translated from Chinese 广东), also known as Guang Zhou, was once the trading center between China and all foreign countries. After the Qing (Manchu) government placed a restriction on international trading after 1757, a special guild of merchants, the Co-hong, obtained a monopoly over trade with the foreigners. Although the Qing emperors kept their distance from the foreign traders, they gained a great deal of personal revenue from them. During the time, the foreigners lived in buildings called “factories,” which included living quarters, warehouses, and offices for trade. Chinese called them ‘hong’ -行 or merchant shops.

See below for list of 13 hongs (from wikipedia):
Creek Factory 怡和行
Dutch Factory 集義行
British Factory 保和行
Fung-tae Factory 豐泰行
Old English Factory 隆順行
Swedish Factory 瑞行
Austrian Factory 孖鹰行
Paoushun Factory 寶順行
American Factor 廣源行
French Factory 高公行
Spanish Factory 大呂宋行
Danish Factory 黃旗行
Mingqua’s Factory 中和行

When multiple foreign cultures collapse with the great China, amazing things happens. Skilled Chinese artists and artisans responded eagerly to the European demand for souvenirs of their time in the Pearl River area by adapting Western styles to Chinese models of portraits and landscapes. It was like the silicon valley but happened in 300 years ago.

As you can see, the carvings on box used high relief (or altorilievo from Italian), a popular sculpture techniques used in ancient Greek, was used to create all figures and background on each side of the box for story telling. Truly an master piece of craftsmanship. Museum quality item suitable for private collection or long term investment.