Box of the Compañía de las Indias, XIX century.

Compañía de las Indias box, 19th century.
Chiselled silver-plated copper and porcelain.
Measurements: 7 x 32 x 14 cm.
This box has a silver-plated and chiselled copper structure, ornamented with a grecate plant pattern. The decorativeness of the piece lies in the porcelain plaques, especially in its upper lid worked in blue and white porcelain, which shows a beautiful phoenix bird of proud bearing, with a sinuous neck and open wings, with its characteristic long tail fluttering in the wind. The phoenix or Fenghuang is the female counterpart of the dragon, and when it appears next to the dragon it symbolises the empress. It has very positive connotations: it is a symbol of virtue and grace, and symbolises the union of yin and yang.
Once trade was organised on a regular basis, the India Companies, which managed trade between European countries and the colonies under their domination, supplied Chinese artists with European models, both for forms and decoration.