Lidded box with design of a dragon cavorting in the ocean

This round box with a lid depicts a five-clawed dragon cavorting between heaven, represented by the mushroomhead–shaped clouds, and earth, indicated by the three rocks emerging among the waves. These two essential realms of the Daoist world are set off against a background with distinct patterns.

The body of the box was coated with many layers of colored lacquer, with red alternating with brown and dark green, and different areas were carved at different depths to reveal the appropriate colors.