Picnic basket with scene from Investiture of the Gods

China

Not on view

The decorative designs on this box attest to the popular taste for the fantastical and the auspicious. Its cover displays an exciting scene from the sixteenth-century mythological novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi). The fairy at the top left corner sends out magic scissors to cut her enemy; in the story he escapes, but his deer is less fortunate.

Picnic basket with scene from Investiture of the Gods, Hardwood (zitan) inlaid with mother-of-pearl and soapstone, China

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Picnic basket with scene from Investiture of the Gods, Hardwood (zitan) inlaid with mother-of-pearl and soapstone, China
Picnic basket with scene from Investiture of the Gods, Hardwood (zitan) inlaid with mother-of-pearl and soapstone, China

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