An important and superbly carved cinnabar lacquer dish Incised mark and period of Yongle

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS ARE REQUESTED TO COMPLETE THE PREMIUM LOT PRE-REGISTRATION 3 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE SALE.




of notably large size with a substantially thick rim divided into ten petal-shaped lobes, encircling a panel of conforming shape deeply carved with scholar holding a staff followed by his attendant carrying a qin strolling through a courtyard towards a two-storied pavilion with a seated scholar inside awaiting their arrival, with a second attendant sweeping the courtyard as another stands at attention inside the pavilion, the composition centred on a billowing willow tree issuing from behind the building, the scene framed by wispy clouds, rocky promontories jutting out into the water and two wutong trees in the foreground growing from a rock garden and a lofty pine tree balancing the composition on the left, the architectural details finely rendered in low-relief and incised carving, the land, water and sky grounds all defined by different diaper grounds, the cavetto with ten pairs of flowers enclosed within panels including gardenia, prunus, hibiscus, rose, wintersweet, two varieties of peonies, chrysanthemum, camellia and lotus, each with their distinct characteristic buds and foliage arranged with their heads oriented in opposite directions, the ten panels of flowers repeated on the exterior, all on a yellow lacquer ground, encircling the similarly lobed footrim, the dark brown lacquered base incised with a six-character mark using a needle

A French Collection.

Apart from some minor chips to the carving and age cracks, the overall condition is remarkably very good. The base is original and has not been re-lacquered. There is a small 2mm hole through the foot where someone may have tried to hang the dish. The rim of the dish has some faint traces of white, which may be paint from a wall that rubbed off on the lacquer.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This dish belongs to one of an exceedingly limited series of Imperial works of art attributable to the Ming courts of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Imperial sponsorship or patronage was necessary for their production as the cost of each dish was extremely high. Due to the limited duration of seasonal humidity needed for each layer of lacquer to dry before repeated applications could build sufficient thickness to carve, their completion required several years. The present piece is also remarkable for the masterful and economical use of shallow cuts to create astonishingly expressive faces and gestures, identifiable details of objects and foliage, and a balanced composition imbued with convincing space and lyrical atmosphere within what is essentially a 'carved painting' on a serving platter.

Dishes of this large and exquisitely carved Imperial type, also decorated with classic scenes of Chinese scholars in idyllic landscapes and fluted panels of flowers on the rim, are among the finest carved lacquers ever produced in China. Yongle dishes of this shape and decoration, but with a central pine tree rather than the willow as in the present dish, are held in important collections and museums around the world; see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The 200 Objects You Should Know. Carved Lacquer Ware, Beijing, 2008, pl. 26 (fig. 1); another in the British Museum, published in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 30; a third dish is included in Fritz Low-Beer, 'Chinese Lacquer of the Early 15^th Century', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1950; and another sold in our London rooms, 23^rd February 1965, lot 157. Further related examples, which have a Xuande reign mark superimposed onto the original Yongle mark, are also known; for example see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published op. cit., pl.25; and another in the National Museums of Scotland, included in the exhibition Chinese Lacquer, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1998, cat. no. 16.  

Compare also bracket-lobed dishes carved with similar motifs and compositional scheme, such as one sold in these rooms, 17^th November 1988, lot 272, and again in our New York rooms, 30^th March 2006, lot 75.

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Visits to the Lakeside Pavilion
By Regina Krahl

Genre scenes, depicting the idealized life of the gentleman-scholar in a secluded retreat in a scenic setting were a prime subject for the decoration of carved lacquer in the early Ming period (1368-1644). In this respect lacquer ware is unusual, as other contemporary works of art, such as blue-and-white porcelain, for example, only rarely feature figure subjects. Such scenes are well-known from contemporary landscape painting, even if on lacquer the dimensions are changed and the figures are no longer diminutive in relation to the landscape. When related scenes appear in woodblock prints, their content tends to be different since these frequently illustrate popular plays, where the male visitor is more typically awaited by a female friend. Lacquer trays and boxes, generally used for presenting food or other gifts, clearly could not illustrate scenes that might be considered in any way frivolous, but instead depict pleasurable activities of a universally accepted character.

The scenes reproduced on carved lacquer at first glance appear to follow a standard pattern, usually showing scholars at leisure seated in a lakeside pavilion or a mountain hut in expectation of a friend, sometimes drinking wine or tea and admiring the beauty of the countryside. The guest may arrive on foot, on a mule, on horseback, or in a boat, and is generally accompanied by an attendant with a qin zither, while resident servants are preparing drinks and refreshments. Thus at first glance, the two scenes depicted on the two pieces presented here, lots 1754 and 1755, appear to illustrate the same kind of occasion, the only difference being that the visitor is approaching on foot in the case of the dish and on horseback in the image carved on the box. A closer look reveals, however, that the two pictures have a rather different meaning.

The wonderful mallow-shaped dish shows an elderly man seated in a pavilion, wearing a loose gown and his hair tied up in a bun, awaiting a friend, similarly dressed, whose attendant follows with the string instrument. The two gentlemen both look retired, living as recluses, in tune with nature, and the picture of tranquillity is reinforced by an attendant sweeping the terrace while another is standing idle, his hands joined and hidden in his sleeves. A scene not unlike that on the dish equally appears on a Yongle-marked box in the Palace Museum, Beijing, where it is described as depicting the Tang poet Du Fu (Gugong Bowuyuan cang diao qi [Carved lacquer in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 1985, pl.63)(Fig. 1).

Our box, on the other hand shows the guest riding on horseback and wearing an official's cap. It suggests that he is not just an idle visitor joining his friends for a drink. The significance of this scene becomes clearer when comparing it to that on a companion box which appears to form the corresponding pair to the present example, a piece formerly in the collections of H.R.N. Norton, Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, and H.M. the King of Sweden, and now in the Ostasiatiska Museet, Stockholm (Fig. 2). That box, sold in our London rooms, 26^th March 1963, lot 34 and again 2^nd July 1968, lot 66, has been much illustrated, for example, in R. Soame Jenyns & William Watson, Chinese Art: Gold, Silver, Later Bronzes, Cloisonne, Cantonese Enamel, Lacquer, Furniture, Wood, Oxford, rev.ed. 1980, pl.155, and in Jan Wirgin, 'Some Chinese Carved Lacquer of the Yüan and Ming Periods', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no.44, 1972, pl. 13; it was also included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, cat.no.232.

It depicts basically the same scene of two scholars seated in the upper room of a lakeside pavilion overshadowed by a large willow tree, with servants busying themselves in and around an entrance pavilion that is surrounded by a terrace. Yet on the King of Sweden's box the man on horseback is leaving, his head turned as he throws a last glance back at his companions. The attendant with the qin proceeds him, and in addition he is followed by a servant carrying provisions on a shoulder pole, as he obviously sets off for a longer journey. As Craig Clunas has pointed out ('Human Figures in the Decoration of Ming Lacquer', Oriental Art, vol.XXXII, no.2, summer 1986, p.186), 'paintings of such subjects were common departure gifts', typically being given to candidates of the imperial examinations who were bound to leave for the capital. A very similar scene, only with three friends gathered in the pavilion and a large pine tree replacing the willow, appears, for example, on another mallow-shaped dish sold at Sotheby's London 23^rd February 1965, lot 157, later in the collection of Sir Harry Garner and now in the British Museum, London, which was included in the exhibition Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, The British Museum, London, 1973, cat.no.21.

If the scene on the King of Sweden's box can be interpreted as an exam candidate leaving for the capital, then that on the present box, where the scene is reversed, must show the scholar returning triumphantly, with one arm raised high. As he is heading home, he no longer needs provisions and is now accompanied only by the attendant with the qin. His companions are awaiting his arrival, looking down from their upstairs room, while servants are already busy preparing food and wine. The present box would therefore have been a fitting present to celebrate the passing of the imperial examinations, which opened the way to high office in China. Not surprisingly, this subject of the successful return was far more rarely depicted than that of the hopeful departure, since failures were common.

As the stylistic similarity and apparent interchangeability of the scenes used on these lobed dishes and cylindrical boxes suggests, both ought to be contemporary, dating from the late Yongle period. This is also supported by the homogenous carving style of the lush flower motifs used as supporting designs around the sides of both pieces. Yet, while both pieces bear the thinly incised Yongle reign mark, the box shows a more prominent, gold-filled Xuande reign mark superimposed over the Yongle mark, thus making the former virtually illegible. This feature, which is frequently found on carved early Ming lacquer ware – so, for example, on the Garner dish,– has been much discussed but not yet definitively explained. To efface the reign mark of a previous ruler otherwise seems to have been a taboo. This peculiarity which is only found on early Ming carved lacquer ware has been explained with the extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming manufacturing technique of this medium, which requires multiple applications of thin layers of lacquer, which when dry, need to be polished even, before the next layer can be applied, to gradually build up the required thickness, before the carving can even begin. It is not implausible that a batch of such exquisite masterpieces, finished but not yet delivered to the court when the Yongle Emperor died, may have been too precious even for the imperial workshops to simply discard and may thus have been given a new lease of life when the Xuande Emperor ascended the throne.

 

Fig. 1
Carved lacquer box and cover
Ming dynasty, Yongle mark and period (1403-24)
Courtesty of the Palace Museum, Beijing
diameter 20.4 cm

Fig. 2
Carved lacquer box and cover
Ming dynasty, Yongle mark and period (1403-24)
Ostasiatiska Museet, Stockholm, formerly the H.R.N. Norton, Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, and H.M. the King of Sweden's collections
diameter 21.5 cm
Sotheby's London 2 July 1968, lot 66