Page 28 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 紳士藏品

9
A RARE AND LARGE CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER ‘FOUR
SCHOLARLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS’ BOX AND COVER
Late Ming Dynasty
The top of the cover superbly carved with eighteen scholars and their
attendants engaged in the ‘Four Scholarly Accomplishments’, with
two pairs playing weiqi in front of a large screen depicting a landscape,
a trio admiring a scroll painting of bamboo next to another scholar
writing on a fan with a brush in front of a plantain, and a group listening
to a guqin player in a pavilion, another group conversing on a bridge,
a deer and crane wandering through the idyllic scene, all reserved on
an intricately incised diaper ground, the sides of the box and cover
with shaped panels enclosing prunus branches reserved on a diaper-
pattern ground, above key-fret borders, the bracket feet with writhing
chi dragons, the interior and base lacquered black.
58.8cm (23 1/8in) wide (2).
HKD600,000 - 800,000
US$77,000 - 100,000

明晚期 剔紅十八學士圖長方大蓋盒

Provenance:
A Belgian private collection, and thence by descent
Bonhams London, 15 May 2014, lot 435
An important Asian private collection

來源：
比利時私人收藏，並由家族繼承
倫敦邦瀚斯，2014年5月14日，拍品編號435
亞洲重要私人收藏

The present box and cover is very rare because of its unusually large 盒長方形，平蓋面，底承四足。蓋面錦地上雕十八學士及侍從聚於樓
proportions, which allowed the craftsman to fully demonstrate his 閣庭苑之中，正寄興於琴棋書畫，行雅集盛事，庭苑中松、柳、梧，
masterful knifework on a thickly-lacquered surface. 槐掩映，園内珍花奇石，爭奇鬥艷，從左至右，雕刻文人雅士從事棋
弈、展書、觀畫、撫琴等賞玩活動，展現出文人「四藝合一」的藝術
The Eighteen Scholars, Shiba xueshi, were a renowned group of 修養與高雅志趣。
advisors who had served the Tang emperor Taizong (626–649 AD)
before he assumed the Imperial throne. Assisted by young attendants, 十八學士多指北周、唐朝時期的十八位知識分子。唐太宗做秦王時，
the scholars are shown pursing various cultivated pursuits known as 建立「文學館」，招賢納才，以以杜如晦、房玄齡、于志寧、蘇世
siyi, the ‘Four Arts’ of the scholarly accomplishments. 長、姚思廉、薛收、褚亮、陸德明、孔穎達、李玄道、李守素、虞世
南、蔡允恭、顏相時、許敬宗、薛元敬、蓋文達、蘇勗十八人並為學
The ‘Four Arts’; playing the qin or zither, weiqi or chess, shu or 士。命畫家閻立本為十八學士畫像。明代中期以後，宮廷貴族至文人
calligraphy, and hua, painting, were already recorded by Zhang 士大夫流行於園林雅聚，通過書畫器物之品鑑，營造「閒雅好古」富
Yuanyan in the Tang dynasty. It was not until Su Dongpo (1037-1101 有美感的生活方式。而「四藝」即成為反應文人閒情逸致及審美品位
AD) and his circle of friends in the Song dynasty however, that the 的代表。台北故宮藏有一組四幅《明人十八學士圖》，其題材與本漆
ideal of the literatus as a well-rounded painter, calligrapher, musician 盒所刻類似，可資參考（博物館編號 故畫00857）。
and chess player became crystallised. See a set of four Ming dynasty
scroll paintings entitled ‘The Eighteen Scholars’ in the National Palace 此件剔紅盒尺寸巨大，於明代中晚期雕漆中實為少見，其漆層較厚，
Museum, Taipei, showing scholars with assistants engaging in the 浮雕效果明顯。紋飾層次分明，構圖遠近錯落有致，立體感機強，而
‘Four Arts’ (acc.no.Guhua.00857). 運刀如筆，磨工細膩，畫面生動逼真。北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件
明晚期剔紅西園雅集圖圓盒，其運刀方、及人物比例皆可資參考，見
The quality of the carving and the complexity of the multi-figural scene 《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：元明漆器》，香港，2006年，編號
can be compared to a circular box and cover with a similar decoration 194。另見紐約大都會博物館藏一件十六世紀晚期至十七世紀早期剔
of scholars gathering in a garden, late Ming period, illustrated in The 紅漆盒，其芭蕉葉和山石之雕刻方式類似，見《East Asian Lacquer:
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection》，紐約，1991年，編號
Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, no.194. 42，頁107。另見一例十六世紀晚期剔紅雕棋弈圖蓋盒，以及另一
The similar rounded execution of the rockwork and the plantain leaves 件十六世紀晚期剔紅雕高仕寫書圖筆筒，著錄於《Im Zeichen des
can be also compared with a small circular box and cover depicting Drachen: Von der Schönheit chinesischer Lacke, Hommage an Fritz
a child’s bath, late 16th to early 17th century, in the Metropolitan Löw-Beer》，慕尼黑，2006年，編號64，頁144-145，及編號65，頁
Museum of Art, illustrated in East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and 146-147。
Herbert Irving Collection, New York, 1991, p.107, no.42. Compare
also the carving of scholars playing weiqi on a box and cover, second
half 16th century, illustrated by M.Kopplin, Im Zeichen des Drachen:
Von der Schönheit chinesischer Lacke, Hommage an Fritz Löw-Beer,
Munich, 2006, pp.144-145, no.64; and a brushpot, second half 16th
century, with scholars practicing calligraphy, ibid., pp.146-147, no.65.

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