Chinese box
This box is hidden inside the triangular compartment of the Florentine cabinet. It is intensely detailed, black in color with "gold-dust lacquer, elaborately wrought, the sides patterned with curved waves, and the silken cords hung with round crystals and tasseled in plaited metal threads" (Wilde 174-75). Though the item is small, its beauty in detail and effects on Dorian mark its importance in the text. It contains a "green paste waxy in lustre" with a smell that is "curiously heavy and persistent" (Wilde 175), heavily implying that the box is used to keep Dorian's opium or hashish. This connection between the box and China furthers the Orientalist decor in Dorian's library.
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The Qing dynasty box in the image is, admittedly, not the same color scheme as the box in Wilde's text. However, its elaborate carvings seem to represent a similar pattern to Dorian's box, and its description as a late 18th-early 19th century treasure box could align with Dorian's box (Box with Landscape Scenes). The box's lacquer is carved with details like bats and the Buddhist "Eight Treasures," meant to represent success and longevity (Box with Landscape Scenes). Dorian's box seems to represent moral decline and addiction in the novel.
Oscar Wilde
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New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," December 14, 2010–May 1, 2011
<span><br /><span>Wilde, Oscar. </span><em>The Picture of Dorian Gray</em><span>. Penguin, 2000.<br /><a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60903?sortBy=Relevance&amp;what=Boxes&amp;ft=chinese&amp;offset=20&amp;rpp=20&amp;pos=29">The Metropolitan Museum of Art</a><br /></span></span>
Penguin Books
The Met
Wilde's text/ 1891
Penguin text/ 2000
18th-early 19th century
Hannah Phillips
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Florentine Cabinet
Chinese Box: H. 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm); W. 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm); L. 9 3/8 in. (23.8 cm)/ red, green, black lacquer
English
Text, still image
Florentine Table
Described simply as "little" and near to Dorian's bedside in the text (Wilde 121). The yellow book gifted to Dorian by Lord Henry is placed upon it in Chapter 10.
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The image depicts a rather intricate table made in England in 1862, designed by J. Randell and manufactured by S. Birley. It is marble inlaid with other stones, done in the Florentine "pietra dura" style. The piece was completed for the "International Exhibition of 1862" in London, making its age a suitable comparison to Dorian's table in the novel (Table|Randell, J.).
Oscar Wilde
J. Randell, S. Birley
Wilde, Oscar. <em>The Picture of Dorian Gray</em>. Penguin, 2000.<br /><a href="http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18958/table-randell-j/">The Victoria and Albert Museum</a>
Penguin Books
Victoria and Albert Museum
Wilde's text/ 1891
Penguin/ 2000
1862
Hannah Phillips
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017.
Text and still image
English
Decor