196. IMPORTANT ET RARE COUVERCLE IMPÉRIAL EN LAQUE ROUGE SCULPTÉ Marque et époque Qianlong (1736-1795), datée 1775 A VERY RARE LARGE IMPERIAL CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER COVER Qianlong period, dated 1775 Of tall rectangular shape, exquisitely carved on all sides and top through thick layers of lacquer with powerful five-clawed dragons: the front with two sinuous ascending five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls against a dense ground of swirling clouds, flanking a central cartouche bearing the inscription Long Xiang. Qianlong yiwei zhong zhuang. Xia han(Dragon Fragance. Boxed in the yiwei year of the Qianlong period, 1775), the back similarly carved but with a pair of powerful five-clawed descending dragons flanking a central flaming pearl, above cresting waves and amidst dense ruyi-shaped clouds, the sides with a single forward looking dragon amidst dense ruyi-shaped clouds, above a gilt-metal handle finely cast in with stylised dragon heads, the cover with similarly featuring a single forward-facing five-clawed dragon, the sinuous body winding itself around a flaming pearl, the face with a menacing expression, the interior lacquered black. 41.8cm x 49.8cm x 35.7cm (16 1/2in x 19 5/8in x 14in) 清乾隆 1775年 御製剔紅龍香御墨匣蓋 Provenance: Collection of Friedrich Adolf Wellenkamp (1863-1951), acquired in China between 1918 and 1924 during his time as a military adviser, thence by descent to his granddaughter, acquired from her collection 來源： Friedrich Adolf Wellenkamp（1863-1951）珍藏，於1918年至1924年任軍事顧問期間得自中國，後傳至其孫女 現藏家得自上述來源 This magnificent box cover demonstrates the superior skills of the lacquer artists who worked in the Imperial workshops making objects for Imperial use in the halls and temples of the palaces. Not many pieces of carved cinnabar lacquer made in the Qianlong period match the exquisite quality of this cover. In fact, the pair to this cover, complete with its box and contents, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Lin Qi,'Qianlong shiqi gongting yu mo baozhuang chutan', in Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 2014.3 (173), pp.113-121, fig.6 (Fig.1). The identical large box contains sets of imperial ink sticks neatly arranged in cases imitating books and titled long xiang. The identical inscription on the carved cinnabar lacquer box also mentions that the ink sticks were arranged in this box in 1775, the same year mentioned on the present lot. Great care was taken to wrap these precious ink sticks, just like other scholarly utensils including ink stones, brushes and even precious paper that were reserved for the use of the emperor himself, as examples from the Palace Museum collection show, see The Imperial Packing Art of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2000, nos. 48-56.