Chinese Yellow-Ground Magpie and Prunus Wedding Box

A Chinese yellow-ground 'Magpie and Prunus' box and cover (Tongzhi Nian Zhi mark), Imperial wedding box style, the rounded sides set over a low foot ring, the domed cover delicately painted with magpies soaring amidst pink prunus blossoms all against an egg-yolk-yellow ground, the lower part similarly decorated. The base with a 4-character Tongzhi mark in iron-red. This design was a favourite of the Empress dowager Cixi, who selected it for the wedding of her Son, the Tongzhi emperor in 1872. See Ronald W. Longsdorf, Orientations October 1996. Label J.T. Tai & Co, and old type written labels, height 12.5 cm, diameter 27 cm, height 12.5 cm, diameter 27 cm