Two-tier carry box, Huanghuali & boxwood Late Ming to early Qing (1600 – 1700)

The base of the carry box comprises a rectangular frame connected by two transverse stretchers. An upright, with spandrels on either sides rises from the short sides of the base frame to meet the arch-shaped handle. The spandrels with openwork carving of chihulong dragons echo those of boxwood inlaid to the front and back of the carry box. Inside the top tier, resting on its lip-edge is a shallow tray. There is an opening in the centre of the cover on each short side aligned with the opening on the upright at the same position to house a long metal rod passing through. As the bottom tier box fits inside the ledge of the base frame and each tier as well as the cover are interlocked by their ledges, the placement of the metal rod secure the whole carry box in its base. If a lock is fitted to the opening at one end of the metal rod, the whole structure is locked, rendering the box trays inaccessible. This arrangement would attest to the usage of this two-tier carry box for containing valuables.

Hong Kong, 1995 – 1996, Hong Kong Museum of Art, “In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society”
Washington D.C., 1997 – 2001, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Macau, 2003, The Macao Museum of Art, “The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture”

Grace Wu Bruce, ‘Small Portable Treasures’, Journal of the Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Autumn 1993, Renaissance, California, p. 63
Hong Kong Museum of Art, In Pursuit of Antiquities: Thirty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 301 
Grace Wu Bruce, Chan Chair and Qin Bench: The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture II, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 176 – 177
The Macao Museum of Art, The Dr. S. Y. Yip Collection of Classic Chinese Furniture, Macau, 2003, pp. 44 – 45

Similar example:
There is a quantity of carry box that has survived but none glamorous as this example inlaid with boxwood dragons. This piece is so far
unique

The design of these tiered carry boxes originated from food boxes, made mostly of bamboo and lightweight woods for easy carriage. Attendants carrying them on outings are depicted in numerous Ming period paintings and woodblock illustrations to Ming novels.
This fine example, made in heavy and dense huanghuali wood and exquisitely inlaid with boxwood huangyangmu chihulong dragons, derived from the common food boxes and was used to contain valuables.