A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER BRUSH MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

the slender tubular handle deftly carved in varying levels of relief with a figural scene of scholars and attendants on rocky shores against a ground of waves and floral diapers, one carrying a qin (zither) and another resting next to a plant, their attendants standing nearby, one making tea and another holding a scroll, all above delicately carved sprigs of lychee and two birds resting on prunus branches, the cover similarly carved with two conversing scholars next to a large willow tree, an assistant standing nearby while holding a tray, the tips and rims of the cover and the handle carved with a chrysanthemum medallion and a key-fret border respectively

2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 71.
Layered Beauty: The Baoyizhai Collection of Chinese Lacquer, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2010, cat. no. 46.