Important Chinese Art
Important Chinese Art
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID LACQUER CABINET, MING DYNASTY, 16TH / 17TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
September 23, 08:35 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID LACQUER CABINET
MING DYNASTY, 16TH / 17TH CENTURY
明十六 / 十七世紀 褐漆嵌螺鈿攜琴訪友圖格櫃
of rectangular form, the slender, rounded corner posts framing a pair of doors surmounted by a display shelf, the dark brown lacquer intricately inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl, the front panels depicting a continuous scene, a scholar with an attendant nearby, standing at the steps of an elegant pavilion, waiting to greet another scholar crossing over a bridge followed by an attendant carrying a fabric-wrapped qin, beneath an elegantly arching willow tree, below two recessed quatrefoils each enclosing a pheasant in flight against a diaper ground, the side and top panels with delicately curling foliate motifs, all enclosed by varying foliate and diaper borders and raised on a stepped base with a shaped apron, the interior with a single shelf
Height 24⅞ in., 63.2 cm: Width 18 in., 45.7 cm; Depth 13 in., 33 cm
During the Ming dynasty, mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer, with its luminous tones of silvery-white with pale pink and green highlights, enjoyed heightened popularity as a decorative technique in the production of large and small-scale furnishings. While Song and Yuan dynasty precedents may have inspired Ming artisans, the intricacy and sophistication of the imagery were innovations of the period. Scholarly themes such as the present were often derived from Wanli period (1572-1620) woodblock prints and share many stylistic features seen in figural representation as well as in the foliate and geometric motifs, (see James C. Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, pp. 135-8). Another significant contribution to the technique came via contact with the Ryukyu Islands, a chain of islands extending from Kyushu to Taiwan. The first Ming emperor, Hongwu (r. 1368-1398), sent emissaries to the islands in the 14th century, and they, in turn, sent lacquer tributes to the Ming court, initiating a prolonged and fruitful period of artistic exchange and production of exquisitely inlaid lacquers. Compare two larger display cabinets from the 16th/17th century illustrated in Ryukyuan Lacquerware from the Urasoe Art Museum Collection, Urasoe Art Museum, 1995, pls. 62 and 63, and another example of larger dimensions sold in these rooms, 18th September 2007, lot 56.