A Carved Cinnabar Lacquer 'Four Favourites' Dish Incised Mark and Period of Yongle

with shallow everted sides rising to a six-lobed rim, supported on a thin tapered footring of conforming section, deftly carved through rich layers of cinnabar lacquer to the ochre-yellow ground below, the interior with a six-lobed medallion depicting the Song scholar Zhou Dunyi eating at a table inside a storeyed pavilion, watching one of his attendants picking lotus in a pond while another carries a wine ewer towards him, all surrounded by cragged rocks, lush wutong and a tall overhanging pine tree against a ground of curving lines in the sky and waves in the distance, the cavetto decorated with six large flowers including chrysanthemum, camellia, hibiscus, peony and pomegranate, each wreathed in their matching foliage and repeated on the underside, all contained within a thick rolled lip picked out with ‘cash’ floral diapers, the base lacquered in brownish-black and finely incised with a needle with a six-character vertical reign mark on the left

Collection of Edward T. Chow.
Christie’s London, 14^th December 1983, lot 24.

2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 41.
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. 38.

There is an old restoration to the tip of one of the peony leaves (approx 6 by 5 mm.), and a small patch of retouching to the rim between 12 and 1 o'clock. There are some expected age cracks to the lacquer across the rim and running through the ochre-yellow ground around the central medallion. There are some further minor age cracks in the foliate edges of the foot ring on the underside that have been stabilized and some horizontal age crackles to brownish-black lacquer on the base but overall the dish is in very good condition.
"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."

This exquisitely carved dish represents the height of early Ming dynasty lacquer carving. Amongst imperial carvings of the Yongle period, it stands out for its subject matter that was especially popular in the Yuan period and, as it appears, continued to be used in the Ming dynasty. Peter Lam in Layered Beauty, Hong Kong, 2010, p.104, identifies the figure in the pavilion as the Song scholar Zhou Dunyi, who is looking out into a lotus pond, while his attendant is serving him food and wine.  There is another attendant in the garden who has picked a lotus flower for the scholar. The air, water and ground are skilfully represented by different geometric patterns, which are deeply carved to separate the three and to create a three-dimensional effect to the composition.

For an earlier, Yuan dynasty example and the inspiration for later dishes as the present example, see a six-lobed piece, carved with a figural scene depicting the poet Wang Xizhi, seated in a pavilion gazing at a geese in flight, included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 36; and another Yuan example, from the Florence and Herbert Irving collection and now on loan in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in James C.Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer, New York, 1991, pl. 23.

Compare a dish of this type but carved with a different figural scene, similarly bearing a six-character Yongle reign mark, included in the Oriental Ceramics Society exhibition The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1957, cat. no. 233, sold in our London rooms, 3^rd December 1963, lot 168; and another figural dish of the same shape, included in the exhibition From Innovation to Conformity. Chinese Lacquer from the 13^th to 16^th Centuries, Bluett and Sons, London, 1989, cat. no. 10.

Lobed lacquer dishes, reminiscent of a prunus flower, continued to be made throughout the Ming dynasty, as may be seen from a Wanli mark and period example that bears a cyclical date corresponding to 1583, offered in these rooms, 8^th April 2007, lot 758.