A 'qianjin' and 'tianqi' lacquer lobed dish, Mark and period of Wanli | 明萬曆 戧金填漆羲之愛鵝圖梅式盤 《大明萬曆年製》款

This lobed dish is executed in qiangjin and tianqi ('gold-etched' and 'filled-in') technique, which originated in the Song dynasty and matured in the Xuande period when it became an imperial craft. It remained extremely rare, however, until the late Ming period, and was more frequently produced for the court only in the Jiajing and Wanli reigns, as in the case of the present example.

This idyllic scene illustrates the celebrated calligrapher Wang Xizhi (AD 303-361) leisurely sitting under a tree when an attendant presents a goose to him. 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. 

An almost identical Wanli mark and period dish is included in 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 82, where the author discusses the development of late Ming reign marks on lacquerware and suggests that early Wanli pieces are often inscribed with six-character marks as seen on the present example (p. 158).