J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

Finely made gold and silver boxes of this type containing rouge or aromatic balm were gifts from the emperor on la ri (臘日)—a winter celebration taking place on the eighth day of December in the lunar calendar, according to Liu Yuxi (A.D. 772-842), as recorded in chapter six hundred and two of Quan Tang wen (全唐文), the compilation of Tang records compiled by Qing scholars early in the 19th century.

Compare the two smaller Tang dynasty silver boxes of this form chased with very similar decoration illustrated by Gyllensvärd and Scott in Kinesiskt Guld och Silver I Carl Kempe-Samlingen (Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection), Ulricehamn, 1999, p. 133, nos. 93 and 94.

Compare also the two Tang dynasty silver boxes chased with closely related decoration of scrolling vines in the Muwen Tang Collection, illustrated by Kwan in Chinese Silver, Hong Kong, 2004, pp. 88-89, nos. 26 and 27.

A similarly decorated small silver box of this type from the collection of James W. Alsdorf is illustrated by Singer in the catalogue of the special exhibition at the China Institute, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, New York, 1971, p. 39, no. 42. Another small silver box decorated with birds and scrolling vines, from the collection of Frederick M. Meyer, is illustrated by Trubner in the catalogue of the special exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, Los Angeles, 1957, pp. 124-125, no. 353.