Lot Essay
The present pair of quail boxes follows a type first developed sometime early in the Qianlong period which is represented in several collections. Compare a close pair of quail boxes in James Watt, Chinese Jades from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1989, cat. no. 73. Compare also a quail box in the Palace Museum, Beijing illustrated in Zhongguo yuqi quanji (Complete collection of Chinese jades), Shijiazhuang, 2005, col VI, p. 69, no. 106. Compare also a white jade pair from the collections of T.Y. Chao and Alan and Simone Hartman, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 3029; and another similar pair sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2012, lot 4110 and 28 November 2012, lot 2182.