A CINNABAR LACQUER 'LOTUS' DISH

This dish has a gilt rim, divided into six barbed petal-shaped lobes. The circular inner surface is carved with a landscape with architecture and figures. In the foreground, seven scholars meet for tea on a terrace with swastika-shaped tiles. The middle ground is taken up by water with islands, with a striking palace to the right. In the background, mountains and gazebos are set off by an arched footbridge. On the underside four types of flowers with leaves curl towards the centre, where the Qianlong mark is set in a rectangular cartouche.