QING DYNASTY 1880 Desk Cigar Humidor Box In Carved Wood And Cloisonné

A desk box "humidor" from the Qing Dynasty.

This is a beautiful antique humidor desk-box created in the late 19th century during the Qing Dynasty, circa 1880's. The box is very decorative and very well crafted in a rectangular shape with parts made up in carved wood and embellished with five panels developed in the cloisonné technique. The wood's parts are decorated with intricate carvings of floriated and organic motifs and the cloisonne sections with western taste patterns. This box has been crafted to be exported out of China to be retailed in Europe and England during the peak of the Victorian era. The box is fitted at the back with a pair of hinges to support the lid.

Cloisonné 

This is an enameling technique in which the pattern is formed by wires soldered to the surface of the object to be decorated, which is usually made from copper, forming cells or cloisons, each of which holds a single colour of enamel paste which is then fired, and ground and polished. The champleve technique also uses an enameling technique, but the cells are formed by carving into the surface of the object, or in the casting. The cloisonne technique has been in use since the 12th century BC in the west, but the technique did not reach China until the 13th or 14th century. It became popular in China in the 18th century. Initially bronze or brass bodies were used, and in the 19th century copper, at which time the quality of the items produced began to decline. Chinese cloisonné is the best-known enamel cloisonné, though the Japanese produced large quantities from the mid-19th century, of very high technical quality. In the west the cloisonne technique was revived in the mid-19th century following imports from China, and its use continued in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods.

The Qing Dynasty

Officially the Great Qing, was the Manchu-led last dynasty in the imperial history of China. It was proclaimed in 1636 in Manchuria (modern-day Northeast China), in 1644 entered Beijing, extended its rule to cover all of China proper, and then extended the empire into Central Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing empire lasted for almost three centuries and assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest Chinese dynasty and in 1790 the fourth largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With a population of 432 million in 1912, it was the world's most populous country at the time.

Country: Imperial China, late Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).

Date: Circa 1880

Materials: Carved brown dark wood, cloisonné panels with hardstone inlaid and brass wires.

Weight: About 2 Pounds. (0.91 Kg.). 

Measurements: Height 146 mm by Length 242 mm by Deep 174 mm (5.75 x 9.5 x 6.85 Inches).

Condition: The overall condition of this Qing Dynasty humidor box is excellent. The desk box is in perfect condition and all parts are secured. This box was carefully inspected to guarantee the condition and authenticity.

INVENTORY REF: D022326CENJ/.6654