Openwork Ivory Dragon Boat with Gathered Immortals Celebrating Longevity

Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)

Medium: ivory

Dimensions: height: 58 cm, length: 91.5 cm, width: 23.5 cm

This boat is fashioned as a dragon with a raised tail and upturned tail. The central pavilion has three tiers; the upper tier has flags and canopies with dragon and phoenix motifs. The middle tier is a broad platform, and the lower tier serves as a cabin. The architectural features and embellishments of each tier are ingeniously carved with delicate cuts of the engraver’s knife visible in the openwork designs. The boating party features the Queen Mother of the West, the Eight Immortals, and the Three Stars (i.e., three deities called Fortune, Longevity, and Emolument), and various heavenly maidens. Including the boatmen and musicians, the total number of figures on the boat is forty-two.

The dragon boat was presented as tribute by grand ministers of the Imperial Household Department to Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday. Crafted by commission in an ivory workshop in Guangzhou, the work comprises a range of techniques including openwork, relief, three-dimensional carving, inlaying, and dyeing. The scales on the hull are arranged densely. Meanwhile, the splendid features of the pavilion include a complexity of delineated-lotus, floral-cluster, and fruit designs. As a large ornamental work of art, the piece is one of the finest examples of ivory carving produced in the latter period of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).