Cong-type box with painted landscape figures

[Cong style box of painted landscape figures]

Cong style box of painted landscape figures, Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, 16 cm in height and 22 cm in diameter
The box is in the form of a ceiling, with the inside circle and the outside, painted with red, yellow and green paint. The cover is set against the background of pavilions, palaces, ancient pines, mountains, and peaches. It depicts five old men leading several dollies, raising flags, and holding baskets of flowers to celebrate the birthday. A barrel of evergreen placed on the car means unity for ten thousand years. The wall of the box cover is carved with a picture of offering flowers to celebrate the birthday, and 96 characters of longevity are carved on both sides. There are two cong boxes (one pair) in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, and each box contains four small sets of painted boxes. The four sets of boxes in this box are decorated with pots, sausages, pisces and lotus flowers respectively, and the four sets of boxes in the other box are decorated with wheels, screws, umbrellas and covers respectively, forming a pattern of eight treasures. This work is sharp and delicate. Although it has a certain degree of polish, it is far less smooth than the carved lacquer in the early Ming Dynasty, and the paint color is more bright. These are the outstanding characteristics of the lacquer carving made by the Qianlong government
According to the records, in order to celebrate the birthday of the emperor or empress dowager every year, the manufacturing office has to make a large number of activities that symbolize longevity and auspiciousness (such as various materials of bergamot, longevity peach box, Ruyi, Evergreen, etc.). It can be inferred from the longevity pictures decorated on the table and nearly 100 kinds of seal characters, that the Cong box is obviously a work of longevity
This box is made by imitating jade cong. Jade cong was first seen in the Neolithic Age and was found in a large number of tombs of Liangzhu Culture. By the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the Chinese ritual and music civilization had formed and gradually matured, and the jade cong became an important sacrificial instrument for worshipping the natural gods of heaven and earth. After the Warring States Period, with the awakening of humanity, sacrificial vessels gradually stepped down from the shrine. However, due to the worship of the three-generation ritual and music system, imitations of jade cong were made in all dynasties after the Han Dynasty. The Qianlong Dynasty was the last peak in the production of antique works in China


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