Antique Finely Carved Large Chinese Cinnabar Box with Blue Enameled Interior gifts for her with a bit of glare)

with a bit of glare) and executed in a greenish gray

The nutcracker stands 8" tall

features a pagoda in landscape and is very finely done

This box--measuring 8 1/2" long x 3 5/8" deep x 2 3/8" tall-- is in very good condition

There is some faint text

Antique Finely Carved Large Chinese Cinnabar Box with Blue Enameled Interior gifts for her with a bit of glare)I am amazed by the fineness of so many Chinese antiques, and the more I look at real Chinese Cinnabar carving, the more amazed I am. This unusually large box would have been entirely carved by hand, then coated with many successive layers of lacquer. Cinnabar takes its name from the red mineral, a form of mercury sulfide, used to dye the lacquer (while the other colors have sometimes been used, red is most common, most likely due to the association of