A rare carved cinnabar lacquer oval lobed dish, Yuan dynasty | 元 剔紅羲之觀鵝圖海棠式盤

Keitaku Takagi (K.T. Lee).

李經澤

This idyllic scene illustrates the celebrated calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (AD 303-361), leisurely sitting at his pavilion while watching a goose swim by. Wang found inspiration for his calligraphy in natural forms, including the graceful necks of geese, and his fondness for them is reflected in the famous story where he copied the Daoist classic Daodejing for a priest in exchange for a white goose. Scenes depicting scholars in a landscape setting were a Yuan design innovation, featuring on porcelains, jade and lacquer. Such scenes largely derived from printed woodblock texts of illustrated popular stories from the period, which were often inspired by contemporary painting. The present scene bears much resemblance to the handscroll painting Wang Xizhi Watching Geese by Qian Xuan (ca. 1235-before 1307), from the C.C. Wang Family collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, included in the exhibition Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1968, cat. no. 185. 

The present dish exemplifies the decorative arts of the Yuan dynasty which can be characterised by an emphasis on three-dimensional modelling and the complexity of surface decoration. Carved lacquer ware of the Yuan period was typically produced in high relief to allow for three-dimensional modelling and the overlapping of elements within the composition to allow for a greater sense of depth. These traits are illustrated in the intricately detailed trunk of the pine tree and grooves of the rocks on the right, as well as the thickness of the lacquer which has enabled the scene to be carved at varying levels of relief. 

A Yuan carved lacquer dish of this type, depicting the Tang dynasty tea connoisseur, Lu Yu (AD 733-804), in the National Museum of Scotland, is illustrated in Hu Shih-Chang and Jane Wilkinson, Chinese Lacquer, Edinburgh, 1998, pl. 11. Compare also two related dishes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, one of octagonal form, which also shares the distinct parallel grooves encircling the rim, and the other of circular shape, both published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, pls 1 and 8; a petal-lobed dish carved with a scholar watching two ducks swimming, illustrated in Lee Yu-kuan, Oriental Lacquer Art, New York, 1972, pl. 101; and an oval dish sold in these rooms, 2nd November 1994, lot 256.

此盤上飾東晉書聖王羲之憑欄觀賞湖中游鵝。王羲之愛鵝，從鵝的姿態神韻上領悟到書法執筆、運筆的道理，創造出獨特風韻的書法。如執筆應像鵝頸一樣，俯仰彎轉，伸曲自如。他愛鵝，甚至抄寫《道德經》換回了山陰道士的一群白鵝，唐代詩李白有詩曰：「山陰道士如相見，應寫黃庭換白鵝。」以山水人物為裝飾紋飾始於元，多用於瓷器、玉器及雕漆，而這些場景主要來自當時流行的版畫故事。此盤上的紋飾與紐約大都會博物館藏〈元錢選．王羲之觀鵝圖〉甚為相似，曾展於《Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty》，克利夫蘭藝術博物館，克利夫蘭，1968年，編號185。 此盤上的裝飾工藝體現了元朝雕漆圖案繁縟，層次清晰，立體感極強的風格。元朝雕漆器特色是以高浮雕技法，於浮雕之中以重疊雕琢，令畫面更為空闊深遠，顯現立體效果。此盤上精細的松樹和打磨圓潤的山石，充分的體現了明黃成在《髹飾錄》中對元雕漆的描述：「隱起圓滑，纖細精緻」。

蘇格蘭國家博物館藏一件元剔紅飾茶神陸羽盤，見胡世昌和 Jane Wilkinson，《Chinese Lacquer》，愛丁堡，1998年，圖版11。另兩件作比較的均為清宮舊藏，兩盤都飾棱邊，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．元明漆器》，香港，2006年，圖版1，剔紅觀瀑圖八方盤；圖版8，剔紅樓閣人物圖圓盤。一件剔紅觀鵝圖花瓣式盤，李汝寬，《Oriental Lacquer Art》，紐約，1972年，圖版101。還有一件剔紅橢圓盤於香港蘇富比1994年11月2日易手，編號256。