- 3019
AN EXTREMELY RARE CINNABAR LACQUER BAMBOO-NECK VASE MING DYNASTY, LATE HONGWU / JIANWEN PERIOD, C. 1400, INCISED MARK OF YONGLE
Estimate
8,000,000 - 12,000,000 HKD
bidding is closed
Description
- lacquerware
THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS MAY BE REQUESTED BY SOTHEBY'S TO COMPLETE THE PRE-REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM AND TO DELIVER TO SOTHEBY'S A DEPOSIT OF HK$2,500,000, OR SUCH OTHER HIGHER AMOUNT AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY SOTHEBY'S, AND ANY FINANCIAL REFERENCES, GUARANTEES AND/OR SUCH OTHER SECURITY AS SOTHEBY'S MAY REQUIRE IN ITS ABSOLUTE DISCRETION AS SECURITY FOR THE BID. THE BIDnow ONLINE BIDDING SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR PREMIUM LOTS.
raised by a low slightly flaring footring, set with a bamboo-ridged neck accentuated by parallel fillets rising to a flat mouth neatly collared by a swastika border, the compressed globular bulb densely decorated with four blooms of peony, gardenia, chrysanthemum and camellia, borne on leafy blossoming branches, the floral design naturalistically rendered with details of the petals and the leaves meticulously defined, framed by two bands of pendent and upright lotus petals below the neck and above the base, further adorned with a ring of halved-cash diaper around the footring, all crisply carved through the thick layers of cinnabar to occasionally reveal the ochre-yellow ground, the underside lacquered black with the base incised to the left side with a six-character Yongle mark
raised by a low slightly flaring footring, set with a bamboo-ridged neck accentuated by parallel fillets rising to a flat mouth neatly collared by a swastika border, the compressed globular bulb densely decorated with four blooms of peony, gardenia, chrysanthemum and camellia, borne on leafy blossoming branches, the floral design naturalistically rendered with details of the petals and the leaves meticulously defined, framed by two bands of pendent and upright lotus petals below the neck and above the base, further adorned with a ring of halved-cash diaper around the footring, all crisply carved through the thick layers of cinnabar to occasionally reveal the ochre-yellow ground, the underside lacquered black with the base incised to the left side with a six-character Yongle mark
Provenance
A private English collection.
Condition
There is a 1.1 cm shallow flake to the exterior of the mouthrim and some nibbles on the interior of the mouthrim. There are two dents to the inner footring (max. 0.5 cm). There is a 2.5 cm crack to the red lacquer on one side of the peony flower, commensurated with the age and type, as well as occasional stabilised crackling to the ochre yellow ground, but overall the condition is quite good. The actual colour is consistent with the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."
Catalogue Note
From the Yongle Emperor to the Japanese Shogun: A Diplomatic Gift Recorded in 1403
Regina Krahl*
This small flower vase of the early Ming period (1368-1644) is not only a superbly carved and outstandingly beautiful example of imperial Chinese lacquer ware, and as an upright shape exceedingly rare among lacquer items, but in addition a historically important, documentary piece that brings to life an occasion of diplomatic exchange over 600 years ago.
In the Yongle reign (1403-24) the arts and crafts were propelled to unprecedented heights under the supervision of the imperial court, as art objects were recognized to be perfect aides in diplomatic endeavours to establish and define ties with foreign countries. While the Yongle Emperor sent out large fleets to Western Asia and Africa to explore and keep at bay the world beyond China’s borders, closer at home frequent embassies were exchanged with Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408) in Japan.
After a gap during the preceding Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), official exchanges between China and Japan resumed under the Hongwu (r. 1368-98) and Jianwen (r. 1399-1402) Emperors, after Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga Shogun, had gained control over the two previously divided Northern and Southern courts in Japan in 1392. It was the Yongle Emperor, however, who actively reached out to foreign countries to establish Chinese suzerainty or tributary alliance. Nine missions from China to Japan are recorded to have taken place between 1403 and 1464, each of them carrying lavish gifts from the Emperor, duly recorded in inventories, which have survived at least in the form of copies.
The Chinese court was generous with its gifts, since they conveyed prestige. The embassies brought silk and other textiles, silver and coins, and the five earlier ones that took place in the Yongle and Xuande reigns also included lacquer ware. The three Yongle embassies all carried items of carved red lacquer: 50 pieces in 1407, all of them incense boxes and dishes; 95 pieces in 1406, mainly dishes, but also bowls, tiered boxes and items of furniture; and 58 pieces in 1403.
Only in this first list, recording the imperial gifts brought to Japan by a Chinese mission in the first year of the Yongle Emperor’s reign, are the items described in some detail, and here all the lacquer is of the carved vermillion type. The variety of shapes is greatest here, as presumably the preferences of the Japanese side were not yet clear. The total numbers add up to more than 58 items, since sets may have been variously counted. The composition reflects precisely the kinds of carved lacquer we know from this period: As decoration, mainly figure subjects, birds, or just flowers are mentioned; in terms of shapes, there are many dishes, octagonal, mallow-shaped, prunus-shaped, round and oval; various boxes, incense boxes and other incense containers; a mallow-shaped mirror case; rice bowls, an octagonal bowl, wine cups and stands, fruit dishes with stands, a tray with stand, two tables with 16 non-specified items each, perhaps a kind of sweetmeat tray; and in addition to all this is listed (Garner, loc.cit., pp. 20 and 27):
Flower vase, one piece, carved with bamboo joints and flowers of the four seasons, on the foot carved with cash pattern.
Lacquer vases of the early Ming dynasty are virtually non-existent. There is no other upright piece listed in any of these Yongle embassy records; and only three carved red lacquer vases altogether appear to have otherwise survived from the early Ming dynasty.
Only one closely comparable vase appears to have been published, with reduced neck, lacking the rim border, with an incised key-fret design on the foot instead of the halved cash diaper of the present vase, and engraved with the Xuande reign mark (1426-35) in addition to a Yongle mark; the piece, from the collection of J.H. Jackson and later Sir Harry Garner, now in the British Museum, London, was sold in our London rooms, 7th February 1967, lot 66, and has been illustrated and discussed in Garner, loc.cit., pp. 20-22, fig. 9; in Hu Shi-chang, Chinese Lacquer, Edinburgh, 1998, pp. 14-15; and was included in the exhibition Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, The British Museum, London, 1973, cat. no. 37, illustrated pl. 17a (fig.1).
Due to a lack of any more closely fitting example, both Sir Harry Garner and Hu Shi-chang have associated the vase now in the British Museum with the flower vase mentioned in the Yongle list. Although it fits the description fairly well, the key-fret border around its foot does not match the description in the 1403 list, and its Xuande mark is proof that it did not leave China for Japan in 1403, and thus cannot be the vase recorded.
The present vase fits the description in every point. Given the extreme scarcity of early Ming lacquer vases, not only today but apparently also at the time, on the one hand, and this perfect match of the design with the description on the other, it seems not unreasonable to claim that the present vase is the one that was sent by the Yongle Emperor to Japan in 1403. In order to have been ready at that time, it would have had to be made in one of the preceding reigns, in the late Hongwu (1368-98) or Jianwen (1399-1402) period, when contacts with Japan were revived, since the production of carved lacquer is a slow process.
Only two other carved lacquer vases of the early Ming dynasty are otherwise known, both very different in design: A reduced vase without reign mark, completely missing its neck, decorated with dragons and phoenixes among clouds, has been sold in these rooms 19th November 1984, lot 111, from the collection of Dr. Ip Yee; and a mallet-shaped vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with an overall entwined flower design and a Yongle reign mark was included in the exhibition He guang ti cai. Gugong cang qi/Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors. Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 7. The exhibition also included a close copy of the 16th century, ibid., cat. no. 26; and another vase similar to this later example has been sold at Christie’s London, 6th June 1988, lot 80, at the time tentatively attributed as ‘probably 15th century’.
*This essay is largely based on the detailed study undertaken on this subject by Sir Harry Garner: Harry M. Garner, ‘The Export of Chinese Lacquer to Japan in the Yüan and Early Ming Dynasties’, Archives of Asian Art, vol. 25, 1971/2, pp 6-28.
Regina Krahl*
This small flower vase of the early Ming period (1368-1644) is not only a superbly carved and outstandingly beautiful example of imperial Chinese lacquer ware, and as an upright shape exceedingly rare among lacquer items, but in addition a historically important, documentary piece that brings to life an occasion of diplomatic exchange over 600 years ago.
In the Yongle reign (1403-24) the arts and crafts were propelled to unprecedented heights under the supervision of the imperial court, as art objects were recognized to be perfect aides in diplomatic endeavours to establish and define ties with foreign countries. While the Yongle Emperor sent out large fleets to Western Asia and Africa to explore and keep at bay the world beyond China’s borders, closer at home frequent embassies were exchanged with Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408) in Japan.
After a gap during the preceding Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), official exchanges between China and Japan resumed under the Hongwu (r. 1368-98) and Jianwen (r. 1399-1402) Emperors, after Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga Shogun, had gained control over the two previously divided Northern and Southern courts in Japan in 1392. It was the Yongle Emperor, however, who actively reached out to foreign countries to establish Chinese suzerainty or tributary alliance. Nine missions from China to Japan are recorded to have taken place between 1403 and 1464, each of them carrying lavish gifts from the Emperor, duly recorded in inventories, which have survived at least in the form of copies.
The Chinese court was generous with its gifts, since they conveyed prestige. The embassies brought silk and other textiles, silver and coins, and the five earlier ones that took place in the Yongle and Xuande reigns also included lacquer ware. The three Yongle embassies all carried items of carved red lacquer: 50 pieces in 1407, all of them incense boxes and dishes; 95 pieces in 1406, mainly dishes, but also bowls, tiered boxes and items of furniture; and 58 pieces in 1403.
Only in this first list, recording the imperial gifts brought to Japan by a Chinese mission in the first year of the Yongle Emperor’s reign, are the items described in some detail, and here all the lacquer is of the carved vermillion type. The variety of shapes is greatest here, as presumably the preferences of the Japanese side were not yet clear. The total numbers add up to more than 58 items, since sets may have been variously counted. The composition reflects precisely the kinds of carved lacquer we know from this period: As decoration, mainly figure subjects, birds, or just flowers are mentioned; in terms of shapes, there are many dishes, octagonal, mallow-shaped, prunus-shaped, round and oval; various boxes, incense boxes and other incense containers; a mallow-shaped mirror case; rice bowls, an octagonal bowl, wine cups and stands, fruit dishes with stands, a tray with stand, two tables with 16 non-specified items each, perhaps a kind of sweetmeat tray; and in addition to all this is listed (Garner, loc.cit., pp. 20 and 27):
Flower vase, one piece, carved with bamboo joints and flowers of the four seasons, on the foot carved with cash pattern.
Lacquer vases of the early Ming dynasty are virtually non-existent. There is no other upright piece listed in any of these Yongle embassy records; and only three carved red lacquer vases altogether appear to have otherwise survived from the early Ming dynasty.
Only one closely comparable vase appears to have been published, with reduced neck, lacking the rim border, with an incised key-fret design on the foot instead of the halved cash diaper of the present vase, and engraved with the Xuande reign mark (1426-35) in addition to a Yongle mark; the piece, from the collection of J.H. Jackson and later Sir Harry Garner, now in the British Museum, London, was sold in our London rooms, 7th February 1967, lot 66, and has been illustrated and discussed in Garner, loc.cit., pp. 20-22, fig. 9; in Hu Shi-chang, Chinese Lacquer, Edinburgh, 1998, pp. 14-15; and was included in the exhibition Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, The British Museum, London, 1973, cat. no. 37, illustrated pl. 17a (fig.1).
Due to a lack of any more closely fitting example, both Sir Harry Garner and Hu Shi-chang have associated the vase now in the British Museum with the flower vase mentioned in the Yongle list. Although it fits the description fairly well, the key-fret border around its foot does not match the description in the 1403 list, and its Xuande mark is proof that it did not leave China for Japan in 1403, and thus cannot be the vase recorded.
The present vase fits the description in every point. Given the extreme scarcity of early Ming lacquer vases, not only today but apparently also at the time, on the one hand, and this perfect match of the design with the description on the other, it seems not unreasonable to claim that the present vase is the one that was sent by the Yongle Emperor to Japan in 1403. In order to have been ready at that time, it would have had to be made in one of the preceding reigns, in the late Hongwu (1368-98) or Jianwen (1399-1402) period, when contacts with Japan were revived, since the production of carved lacquer is a slow process.
Only two other carved lacquer vases of the early Ming dynasty are otherwise known, both very different in design: A reduced vase without reign mark, completely missing its neck, decorated with dragons and phoenixes among clouds, has been sold in these rooms 19th November 1984, lot 111, from the collection of Dr. Ip Yee; and a mallet-shaped vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with an overall entwined flower design and a Yongle reign mark was included in the exhibition He guang ti cai. Gugong cang qi/Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors. Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 7. The exhibition also included a close copy of the 16th century, ibid., cat. no. 26; and another vase similar to this later example has been sold at Christie’s London, 6th June 1988, lot 80, at the time tentatively attributed as ‘probably 15th century’.
*This essay is largely based on the detailed study undertaken on this subject by Sir Harry Garner: Harry M. Garner, ‘The Export of Chinese Lacquer to Japan in the Yüan and Early Ming Dynasties’, Archives of Asian Art, vol. 25, 1971/2, pp 6-28.