box; cover BM-1947-0719.8.a-b

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1808 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:fruit
Dimensions:Diameter: 6 centimetres

Description:
Blue-and-white box and cover painted after a Spanish coin. Of lobed form, it is decorated in underglaze blue, showing on the cover a portrait of King Charles IV of Spain (r. 1788-1808), crowned with a laurel wreath, surrounded by a curiously transcribed Latin inscription and the date 1808. Both box and cover bear peach sprigs on the insides and another peach spring on the base, incised through the blue pigment which covers the sides and base.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The design is copied from a Spanish silver coin of 1808 which is inscribed on the portrait side ‘CAROLUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1808’ (Charles IV, by God’s grace, 1808), and on the armorial side ‘CHISPAN ET IND REX’ (King of Spain and the Indies) as well as the abbreviated denomination, ‘8 reales’, and the mintmaster’s initials. For an example of the coin, see BM 1906.1105.271, though the box bears only a distant relationship to it, its inscription being illegible. It may have been copied from one of the enamelled porcelain boxes rather than from the coin itself. See BM Franks. 715+.