Chinese Antique Black Lacquer Wood Box Hand Painted w/ Gold Hinged 9" Long

Description

Antique Chinese
black
lacquered
box
with hand painted
gold
images/figures.
All sides
(except the bottom)
are painted
and decorated with
gold
.
On the the face of the lid, there are
9 people
in a garden, having an afternoon tea together.
Other four sides are as follows:
6 people
seem to be sitting in the garden talking on the front side.
4 people
sitting & talking on the back side.
3 people
sitting & talking on
both
the left and right sides.
In the background, also painted are
pagodas
, small
architectural structures
,
garden doors and walls
,
tables
and
benches
,
trees
,
flowers
,
grass
... wait, one of the people is
fishing
in the pond (?) Can you find him?
They all seem to enjoy their peaceful life!
The box is relatively
large in size
, with
9"
of length, and 4 1/4 " and 2 1/2 " for the other dimensions.
Marked at the bottom "Made in China"
As you can see, it has
crackles
all over its body. And it has
signs of age
everywhere
, with
worn corners
etc.  But
miraculously
,
none of the damages affect its main images
almost on all faces, not even a bit.  What a wonderful old piece !