The decorative designs on this box attest to the popular taste for the fantastical and the auspicious. Its cover displays an exciting scene from the sixteenth-century mythological novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi). The fairy at the top left corner sends out magic scissors to cut her enemy; in the story he escapes, but his deer is less fortunate.
Credit: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Willaim Corbus, 1977
19th century
Hardwood (zitan) inlaid with mother-of-pearl and soapstone
23.2in
1977.262a-g
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection