Boîte à cosmétique lian 奩

Entre - 206 et 900
Bois (matériau), Laque
Boîte
H. 9.1 x D. 18.1 cm
Don manuel : Deydier, Christian; Deydier, Agnès
M.C. 10015 a

This box is made of wood and decorated with red and black lacquer, characteristic of the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9).
Similar cylindrical boxes were discovered in Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, at Zhuijiancun, Tianchan district, Anhui province, and in the tomb of Wang Yu at Lo-lang in northern Korea. They contained smaller boxes of various forms, holding toiletry items and cosmetics.
Some richly decorated specimens are in the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo, and at the Fujii Ikuseikai Yūrinkan in Kyoto.

Reference(s) : Christian Deydier, L'Art et la Matière, Paris/Londres, Oriental Bronzes, 1998, p.48, n°25.
Gilles Béguin,  "Activités du musée Cernuschi", Arts asiatiques, 1999, p.130-131.
Changsha Mawangdui yi hao Han mu (La tombe n°1 de Mawangdui {dans la commune de} Changsha), Beijing, Wenwu chubanshe, 1973, pl.176-177.
Jessica Rawson (ed.), The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, Londres, The  British Museum , 1992, p. 177, fig.123.
Art chinois, Musée Cernuschi, acquisitions 1993-2004, Paris-Musées/Editions Findakly, 2005, p.49.