A 'GURI' LACQUER BOX AND COVER YUAN DYNASTY

of circular section, the cover carved in fluid scrollwork revealing alternating layers of red, black, yellow and green lacquer, the sides similarly carved with scalloped partial scrolls, the countersunk base incised with a three-character mark 'Zhangcheng zao' (2)

Alice Boney, New York. 
Ji Zhen Zhai Collection, until 2015.

Treasures of the Chinese Scholar, Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, New York and Tokyo, 1997, fig. 147.

With wear, and scattered splits and cracks throughout the box and cover.The cover with scattered small areas of restoration and touch-up painting as well. There are two labels applied to the interior of the box: "Jizhen Zhai Collection" and "Univ Museum Exhibition C10 17".
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Zhang Cheng is known from the Gegu yaolun [The Essential Criteria of Antiquities] by Cao Zhao of 1388. Few other known pieces bear the same Zhangcheng zao mark. Compare a shallow dish at the British Museum, illustrated in Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pls 51-52; and a dish carved with gardenia in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, cat. no. 3. A box and cover with Zhang Cheng signature and a further inscription in phagspa, the Yuan official script, and thus firmly attributed to the Yuan dynasty, was included in the exhibition Two Thousand Years of Chinese Lacquer, The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 34.

Compare also a similar example smaller in size, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 621.