λ A RARE DUTCH COLONIAL HUANGHUALI WRITING BOX

£1,000 - £2,000

λ A RARE DUTCH COLONIAL HUANGHUALI WRITING BOX
SOUTH CHINA, C.1640

3.8kg, 13.5cm x 46cm x 31cm.

WITHOUT RESERVE
本拍品不設底價。

Of rectangular form, the moulded top and base projecting slightly from the side panels, with a quatrefoil lockplate and brass ruyi-shaped spandrels to the corners all finely incised with floral motifs, the hinged lid lifting to reveal long hinge-mounts similarly incised and four compartments of varying sizes, the two short sides with metal handles also incised with floral motifs.

Cf. Michael Backman Ltd, 2016, item 3153 for a similar Dutch colonial huanghuali writing box with engraved baitong mounts dated to the 17th century. See also Christie's London, 13th May 2011, lot 6162 for another related example dated to the 18th century.

The box offered here is a rare example of a Chinese-made wooden writing box in the colonial Dutch style. This type of box was likely made for the Dutch East Indian Company (VOC), or its agents and belongs to a small but important group. It combines the classic form of a Dutch VOC document box, more commonly associated with boxes from Batavia or Sri Lanka, with rare Chinese hardwoods. Such document boxes were most commonly used by colonial Dutch officials in India, Sri Lanka, and the East Indies (present-day Indonesia), when senior officials and merchants were required to routinely send written communications and observations deemed potentially useful for the Company’s interests.