Grandeur, abundance, panache

Wrappings and layers – packaging collections and gifts

A box for jades is conceived in stages, with successive charm and surprises. Outermost, a cloth-covered box is simply patterned fabric of excellent quality, signalling the probable significance of its contents. Inside, smaller boxes. When opened each of these has a cloth covering the contents, on which is painted images of pieces of jade. Beneath this the collection of jades themselves (now separated from the box by the administrative demands of museum inventory.) In their absence, however, we now see that under each jade there was a poem, a painting, or a decorative flourish. Each of these was keyed to the piece it accompanied, offering a complement to the moment when the jade was taken in hand.
		Box for jades Qing Period (1644-1911) National Palace Museum, Beijing