This box is cloisonné enamel, the craft where metal is bent, filled with glass and fired until colour sits flush in a wired cell. the 乾隆 workshop made it a court speciality.
The dragon pattern is the argument. Cloisonné enamel builds colour from the inside out, each cell a small field bounded by brass, so the box reads as order made visible.
Enamel ware let the court turn its oldest forms into its newest materials, fire and metal standing in for ink and bronze.
A box like this outlived the fashion that produced it. The cloisonné enamel still glows, which is the only immortality the workshop ever promised.
Object details
| Name | Qianlong period cloisonné enamel inkstone box with cloud and dragon pattern (乾隆款掐丝珐琅云龙纹砚盒) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 故00116396 |
| Technique | Cloisonné enamel (掐丝珐琅) |
| Period | Imperial dynasty, 乾隆 reign (1736-1795) |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.