A Rare Mother-of-Pearl Inlaid 'Floral Vine' Lacquer Box and Cover Korea, Chosŏn Dynasty, 15th / 16th century

of rectangular form supported on a flat base, finely inlaid in iridescent sections of mother-of-pearl slightly stained to gold on a black lacquer ground with peony blossoms and buds wreathed in scrolling floral vines, scattered overall with eight hovering butterflies, four of them with plain gold wings, and four others of a black and gold variety  

Treasures of the early Chosŏn dynasty, 1392-1592, Ho-Am Art Gallery, Seoul, 1996, cat. no. 159.

Sadamu Kawada and Takahiro Takahashi, Korai richo no raden [Korean Inlaid Mother-of-Pearl Lacquer], Tokyo, 1986, pl. 26.

The lacquer is worn and the inlays is a little tarnished, in commensuration with age, but overall the box has been very well preserved. There are dents and chips of varied size at the corners and generally along the edges. There are expected re-lacquering and occasional scattered losses or repairs to the inlays, predominantly along the edges of the cover where the fragile lacquer has been stabilized.
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Compare a mother-of-pearl inlaid 'Floral Vine' Stationery Box and Cover of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910), dated to the 15th century, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, illustrated on http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/L.1992.62.3a,b, from the collection of Florence and Herbert Irving.

Korean Mother-of-Pearl Inlaid Lacquerware of the Chosŏn Dynasty
Mr. Taishu Komatsu
Director, Akita Senshu Museum of Art.

The white shiny area (mother-of-pearl layer) of shells such as the great green turban (Turbo marmoratus), the silver-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima) or the abalone (Haliotis) are cut and polished, then divided up into smaller pieces of selected size and thickness. These are further cut or split and arranged into the pattern and then fixed to the surface of the object. This is a concise summary of the process of mother-of-pearl ornamentation.

Mother-of-pearl inlay has been popular since the dawn of time in Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, and it is thought that the technique was transmitted along the Silk Road to China and then on to the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Tradition has it that mother-of-pearl has been produced in Japan and Korea for centuries but, as examples are scarce, unfortunately there is a lack of concrete evidence. The oldest preserved example is a sutra box brought to Japan in the Edo period and handed down through the Mori family, a clan of daimyo (feudal lords) of the Chugoku region. From a number of its features, it appears to have been made in the 12th century, during the Koryŏ dynasty. Other examples of Koryŏ dynasty mother-of-pearl, including sutra boxes, circular and wavy incense containers and diamond- and square-shaped trays have been found. Although few in number, they encapsulate the mother-of-pearl technique used during the Koryŏ dynasty. However, very few examples remain from the end of the 14th century and the start of the Chosŏn dynasty, and it is therefore difficult to know precisely what types of decorative methods were used. An example of a rare piece handed down from generation to generation is the mother-of-pearl inlaid box, with a design of peony scroll, designated as an Important Cultural Asset in the Tokyo National Museum (figs. 1 & 2).

This is a box which stored Chosŏn government official clothing. It was also passed down through a Chugoku region family of daimyo (feudal lords), the Ouchi family, and is thought to date from before the downfall of the Ouchi clan. It must therefore have been brought from Korea to Japan in the first half of the 16th century. The abalone shell fragments of medium-thickness used here were fixed on to a base of lacquer, and after being painted over with lacquer, the surface was scraped to display the pattern. The peony flowers and buds are delicately connected with thin flowing lines. It is an exquisitely rendered and highly elegant piece. There are very few surviving mother-of-pearl pieces from the Chosŏn Dynasty and it is rare to find a genuine example.