Interesting and unusual old Chinese porcelain 'trinket' box with a ruffled edge.
Painted with scenes in underglaze blue over a white greyish background. The top with a lively scene portraying a pair of cranes engaged in a courtship ritual, and a similar scene hidden inside the box. Auspicious peaches decorate the top edges. The sacred tree of immortality is a peach tree. In Chinese Taoist mythology, the peach of immortality grew in the gardens of Hsi wang mu (Chinese: 西王母; pinyin: Xīwángmǔ; “Queen Mother of the West”). When the fruit ripened every 3,000 years, this was celebrated by a sumptuous banquet attended by the “Eight Immortals”.
Marked on the underside with the 4-character Guangxu reign mark painted in underglaze blue.
1st quarter 20th Century, possibly Guangxu period.
