A gilt and polychromed black lacquer cabinet, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 黑漆加彩描金立櫃

Collection of Hope (1901-1984) and Lewis R. Andrews (1892-1990), Tulip Hill, Maryland, acquired in Shanghai in the 1920s-1930s, and thence by descent.

Hope (1901-1984) 及 Lewis R. Andrews (1892-1990) 伉儷收藏，Tulip Hill，馬里蘭州，1920至1930年代得於上海，此後家族傳承

Hope Andrews, 'Living with Antiques', Antiques, October 1969, p. 564.

Hope Andrews，〈Living with Antiques〉，《Antiques》，1969年10月，頁564

The present cabinet from the collection of Hope and Lewis Andrews has a remarkable history. Lewis Andrews, a decorated British officer, moved to Shanghai in 1919 after his service during World War I. The couple met in Shanghai in the 1920s, fell in love with Chinese art and immediately started collecting until their passion was interrupted by World War II. After the war, the couple and their collection moved to the US. In 1947 they purchased Tulip Hill in Maryland, now recognized as one of the most historically and architecturally significant pre-revolutionary American mansions.

Hope Andrews vividly recounted the wartime drama and the fate of the cabinet for an article entitled 'Living with Antiques' in Antiques, October 1969. She recalled purchasing the cabinet in Shanghai and being informed that it was made during the Qianlong reign. During the war, the Andrews' house on Hongqiao road was looted but, fortunately, the lacquer cabinet was recovered after the war. As Andrews noted, it was "recovered from the veranda of what had been the Japanese military headquarters. It had been exposed to the winds and rains of the typhoon season, but such is the durability of eighteenth-century Peking lacquer work that it suffered relatively little damage". At Tulip Hill, the cabinet was prominently placed in the living room among the couple's other fine furnishings and artworks.

The cabinet, designed for storage, features exceptionally fine shaped panels painted with an array of flowers and birds set into elaborate archaistic openwork. Related examples from the Qing Court Collection share characteristics of the present cabinet. The use of shaped panels, openwork, and painted lacquer are illustrated by a display cabinet in Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 215. Compare another display cabinet with closely related kui dragon scrolls, ibid., pl. 220.