Small fall-front jewel cabinet, rectangular in shape of ebonised wood structure (probably a type of camphor wood, Cinnamomum camphora), protruding stepped ebony or rosewood mouldings covering the edges and plaques of pierced, openwork and carved bone set against purple dyed paper. The silver fittings consist of the crenelated lock, shaped like a coat-of-arms and featuring protruding bird heads with finely chased decoration, the fiddlehead fern-shaped side handles, the hinges set on the inside and the pullers of the interior drawers. The pierced openwork panels, held with bone pins, decorate all the exterior sides of the cabinet except for the underside, which was left in the ebonised colour of the camphor used for the construction. The decorative arrangement of the exterior sides consists of a central field - rectangular on the front, top and back, and almost square on the sides - with a wide mitred border (with thin strips of ebony or rosewood set on the seam) resulting in trapezoids on each side of each of the central fields. The front is decorated on the central field with a large, full-blossomed tree peony on the centre flanked by a pair of pheasants (male and female) in flight, depicted face to face amidst large leaves and set on a finely carved reticulated ground. The tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) or m dān 牡丹, deemed in China “the queen of flowers” and also known as fùguìhuā 富贵花 or “flower of richness and honour”, is the symbol of royalty, prosperity, wealth and honour - a perfect iconography for a jewel cabinet such as this one -, and is also associated with female beauty (see Welch 2008, pp. 34-36; Crespo 2014, p. 161; and Crespo 2015, p. 164). The pheasant, most probably the golden pheasant or Phasianus pictus which occurs in the southern provinces of China, known as j njī 錦雞, often used as a substitute for the phoenix and strongly associated with women, is an emblem of beauty and of good fortune (see Welch 2008, p. 80). It is curious that the depiction of the pair of pheasants on this central panel shows more similarities with contemporary Ming carved lacquerware, such as this 14th-century dish with the same subject, than with painted porcelain of the time. The combination of large peonies and pheasants is also used on this extraordinary, rare and monumental brown lacquered box dated to the late 13th century. The smaller side borders feature isolated birds among foliage and stylised four-petaled flowers. The bottom side features a central cloud motif set as a quatrefoil flanked by two flying horses. The horse, m 马, one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, symbolises speed, power and perseverance, and is commonly depicted as a bearer of good things (see Welch 2008, pp. 132-134). In addition, the auspicious clouds or xiángyún 祥云, represent the heavens and are symbolic of good fortune, given that the Chinese word for cloud yún 云 is pronounced similarly as yùn 运 meaning “luck” or “fortune” (see Welch 2008, pp. 249-250). Shaped like the sacred Chinese mushroom of immortality (Ganoderma lucidum), known as língzhī 灵 芝, the centre of each cloud is also reminiscent of the head of the rúyì 如意 or sceptre, which conveys the achievement of all desires (rúyì is literally, “as desired”; rú, “as, like” and yì, “desire; will”), strengthening the symbolic subtext of the scene with the flying pair of horses (male and female). This Ming blue-and-white porcelain bowl dated to ca. 1600-1620 features a similar combination of flying horses and clouds, thus conveying the same meaningful hidden message and auspicious omen. The top side border of the front is decorated with long-tailed birds on the sides with shrub peonies, exuberant foliage and, flanking the silver escutcheon, a pair of king quails (Coturnix chinensis chinensis) and two white pine cones. The pine tree can be identified with the Pinus armandi, native to China and occurring in Shanxi, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, or even the Pinus fenzeliana, endemic to the island of Hainan off southern China. Although the king quail, known as xi o ānchún 小鹌鹑 is considered, when depicted alone, a symbol of courage given its fighting spirit, it can also be read as a rebus or pun when depicted as a pair (male and female) or shuāng ān 双鹌, a sentence which sounds similar to shuāng ān 双安 meaning “peace and prosperity” (see Welch 2008, p. 84). This same message is found on this exceptional dish made at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen and from the Yongzheng period (ca. 1730-1740). It is decorated in overglaze famille rose polychrome enamels with a pair of quails surrounded by branches of blossoming chrysanthemum, peony, plum, and bamboo in a central medallion. The uncommon depiction of pine cones - keeping in mind that seeds are always symbolic of fertility and fecundity -, most probably symbol - ises the promise of long life and endurance, qualities which pines and cypress trees are believed to convey in Chinese iconography (see Welch 2008, pp. 36-37). The right and left sides are similarly decorated. While the mitred borders have stylised four-petaled flowers with large leaves, the central panels feature a qílín 麒麟, with the head turned over his back, set on a rocky background and surrounded by auspicious clouds. Depicted with a scaled deer body with hoofs, a dragon’s head with two horns, and a bear’s bushy tail, the qílín is symbolic of benevolence, virtue, longevity, happiness and wisdom (Welch 2008, pp. 140-141). Its depiction, in the clearly nuptial context of the present jewel box, amongst elements evidently intended as auspicious to a happy marital union with many offspring, is symbolic of fertility, as it is believed that the qílín brings baby boys (qílínsòngzi 麒麟送 子) to happy parents (see Welch 2008, p. 140-141). A similar depiction of the solitary qílín, the harbinger of happiness, crouched with the head turned back and with the right foreleg raised, may be seen on this pear-shaped hexagonal porcelain bottle. Dated to the Wanli period (1572- 1620), it is decorated in underglaze blue with three qílín (two with spots like a deer and one with scales), a horse, a lion, and a leopard.
The top is decorated on the central panel with two large phoenixes, one male or fèng 鳳 and the other female or huáng 凰, with a large tree peony in full bloom between them. The male and female are depicted differently, with the male featuring three serrated pheasant-like tail feathers. A similar depiction of two phoenixes, male and female, may be found on this blue-and-white porcelain dish from the Wanli period (1573-1620). The phoenix, or fènghuáng 鳳凰 is a Chinese mythical bird known as the king of all birds. It is considered to be a composite of several birds: the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow (see Welch 2008, pp. 80- 83). Apart from being associated with the empress and thus with the feminine and as a symbol of high virtue and grace, its depiction conveys wishes of good fortune in the form of superior achievement. The association of the two phoenixes with peonies as depicted here is symbolic of prosperity and righteousness and expresses connubial intercourse (see Eberhard 1986, p. 236). This symbolism further underscores the nuptial character of the present jewel box, much as was the case for the Italian cofanetti or cassette da sposa (see Crespo 2014, p. 69; and Crespo 2015, p. 69). The mitred frame of the top side is decorated with flying cranes among rúyì - shaped auspicious clouds. The crane (Grus sp.), known in Chinese as hè 鶴, symbolise status and longevity (see Welch 2008, p. 69) and in the context of the decoration featured on the present jewel cabinet they are used to express wishes for a livelong romantic union, an everlasting marriage.
The interior of the cabinet is fitted with four drawers arranged in two tiers, the top tier with three square-shaped drawers and the bottom tier featuring two oblong ones. The fronts of the drawers are similarly decorated with pierced, openwork and carved bone panel set against purple dyed paper and framed by plain ebony or rosewood mitred borders. They all feature full-blossomed tree peonies set on a foliage background, further emphasising the feminine character of this jewel cabinet. The pierced, openwork carved bone decoration is similar in design and technique to matching decoration in other rich materials such as jade and gold pieces and were highly prized for their intricacy and refinement during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). They also match in style the pierced woodcarvings featured on 16th and 17th-century Ming furniture (see Berliner 1996, maxime cat. no. 1, 12, 15, 16 and 29 for some superb examples; and Wang 1990, p. 137). On the underside of the central drawer of the top tier there is an inscription in ink with the Chinese character f 灋 written in a highly cursive, almost abstract manner. This character was the ancient form for “law, punishment”. The Chinese scholar Zu Shen (ca. 58-ca.147), in his famous dictionary Shuōwén jiězì 說文 解字 which can be loosely translated as Origin of Chinese Characters, informs us that f means “legal mode” or “to make level (or fair) like water”, that is, to level as even as the surface of water or be infused with the evenness of water (see Barbieri-Low & Yates 2015, Vol. 1, p. 92; and Sun 2015, p. 68). While the right part of the character is composed of zhì 廌 - an animal from Chinese mythology that can tell right from wrong, and drive out evil which is commonly translated as “unicorn” - and qù 去 which originally meant “to put away, to eliminate”, in the sense of removing the things that are not right. The left part of the character was shui 氵, the radical form of shu 水 which symbolizes “water” and means that punish - ments should be as even as the surface of water, or that punishments should be carried out impartially, righteously (Zhang 2014, p. 85). In all likelihood, this character on the underside of the drawer served as a mark, a seal of approval after completion, standing as testimony to the consistency in quality of the finished article and, at the same time, as an auspicious sign. The fall-front in plain, undecorated ebony-like wood (possibly the much appreciated z tán 紫檀, Pterocarpus sp., a type of rosewood), not unlike the exterior sides of the box, is constructed following the typical Chinese joinery used for table tops, a system known as frame and panel or floating panel construction: the frame elements are attached by a mitred mortise-and-tenon joint; a blind or exposed tenon on the frame element of the longer side fits into a mortise on the shorter frame element, while grooves of the framework accept the floating panel (see Wang 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 114- 117; Berliner 1996, p. 18; and Evarts 1996). In contrast, the underside features a very unique type of joinery, with the sides of the box being attached to the bottom panel by means of a minute comb-like finger joint. Both the protrud - ing stepped ebony or rosewood mouldings that run along the edges of this jewel cabinet and this comb joint are only found in a rare group of objects - of which the jewel cabinet is an example - which have been attributed to India, namely to Gujarat. In view of the present cabinet and its clear Chinese origin this is a hypothesis that no longer can be argued. The production of these pieces of furniture, modelled after contemporary European prototypes - the Chinese had many different types of cabinets, such as cosmetic cabinets or guānpíxiāng (see Wang 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 97-98) - is almost certainly linked with commissions from Portuguese living in Asia, namely in the south coastal regions of the Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces (see Krahl 2007). Only two other pieces with similar pierced and carved bone decoration and matching construction features are known to us. The first is a small box (7.7 x 19.5 x 7.5 cm) which served until recently as a reliquary in the treasury of the Cathedral of Zamora (inv. no. IIC-9-275-034-0221-000) and is on display in the Museo Catedralicio, the Cathedral Museum (see Meléndez Alonso 2001, pp. 639-640, cat. no. 7). Raised on a gilded socle, the rectangular box has a wooden structure to which plaques of pierced, openwork carved bone are pinned, with coloured and gilded paper set between the structure and the pierced bone decoration, while the interior is lined with silk velvet. The panelled decoration consists of phoenixes and stylised lotus flowers, similarly conveying an auspicious nuptial omen. The second is a larger fall-front cabinet from a private collection (41.2 x 41.6 x 24 cm). Rectangular in shape, it features an ebonised wood structure, protruding stepped ebony or rosewood mouldings and flat exterior rosewood panels (probably z tán) inlaid with etched bone. The interior is fitted with thirteen drawers arranged in six tiers and their fronts, except for the central square-shaped drawer, feature plaques of pierced, openwork and carved bone (set on gilded and coloured paper) decorated with stylised lotus flowers, egrets, Buddhist lions and seated qílín. One of the most remarkable aspects of this unique cabinet is the inlay design of the fall-front interior side, featuring in Chinese seal script-style the monogram “IHS” with the three nails from the Crucifixion at the base, a motif known as the Christogram of the Holy Name of Jesus and commonly used on Jesuit-related objects commissioned across Asia. Although the design and sumptuous decoration of these pieces is somewhat unlike the more sober style of the best-known Ming furniture made for the Chinese literati that has survived in few numbers (see Wang 1990; Berliner 1996; and Handler 1996) - given that such pieces, as the best porcelain, was solely intended for Chinese consumption and was only at the reach of a select few - they perfectly correspond to how the first pieces of Chinese furniture for export to the European market would appear and are recorded in contemporary documents (see Bastos 2013; and Crespo 2015b). The exact place of manufacture is difficult to ascertain, since the Portuguese had regular contact with many Chinese or Chinese-influenced centres which excelled in the production of luxury goods, centres that included the island of Hainan as recently argued (see Crespo 2014, pp. 151-158, cat. no. 174; Crespo 2015a, pp. 151-161; and Crespo 2015b). Apart from Guangzhou (Canton, the capi - tal of the Guangdong province), one likely candidate for the centre of manufacture of this kind of furniture is Chaozhou, a city in the eastern Guangdong province renowned for its woodwork and which excelled in the production of highly complex pierced, openwork woodcarving. Another possibility is Ningbo, a city in northeast Zhejiang province which was known by the Portuguese as Liampó and where they settled as early as 1522. According to Wang Shixiang, the foremost expert on Chinese furniture of the 16th and 17th centuries, Ningbo was the centre of bone inlaying on hard - wood [Wang 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 144-145]. Other centres located in the South China sea are also a good possibility [see cat. no. 24-26] given that highly specialised Chinese craftsmen were not uncommon in the neighbouring Đ i Vi t (present-day Vietnam) and across the Malay Archipelago (on Chinese Straits furniture, see Ho 1994). Nonetheless, a south Chinese origin for the present jewel cabinet is the more likely.
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