Page 80 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

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A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUER The decorative technique of inlaying mother-of-pearl into lacquer was
RECESSED-LEG TABLE, PINGTOU’AN practised since as early as the Shang dynasty, as evidenced by the
Ming Dynasty find of fragments excavated from the Imperial Shang tombs in Anyang,
The long mitred rectangular top frame supported on four recessed See Sir.H.Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pp.25-34, pls.2-4.
legs of circular section, gently splayed outward and secured by double
stretchers, raised on a straight apron with rounded spandrels joined From the Song dynasty onwards, lacquer furniture with mother-of-
to the legs above a humpback stretcher, elaborately inlaid overall pearl inlay appears to have been among the most luxurious types
with mother-of-pearl on the black lacquer ground, the top with paired of furniture, as can be seen in some of the descriptions in Chinese
birds and butterflies amidst flowering peony branches and inscriptions literature, pictorial illustrations and contemporary paintings. The Song
centred by a gnarled rockwork, within a broad frame of music dynasty historian Li Xinchuan (1167-1240) recorded that Emperor
instruments including pipa, sanxian, guqin, sheng, luo, flute and drums Gaozong of the Song ordered lacquer tables and chairs with mother-
amidst auspicious emblems, the apron with foliate sprays and the legs of-pearl inlay decorations to be burnt, as he considered them too
with continuous leafy florals, the corners of the top frame and the feet luxurious and decadent to keep in the Imperial court. See Jianyan yilai
reinforced with metal straps. xinian yaolu (Annual Records of the most Important Events since the
127.5cm (50 1/4in) long x 42cm (16 1/2in) wide x 80cm (31 1/2in) high. Jianyan reign-period), reprinted 1773-1792, vol.171, p.1.

HKD1,200,000 - 1,500,000 The Plum in the Golden Vase, one of the four great novels of the Ming
US$150,000 - 190,000 dynasty, written in the 16th century by an anonymous author, includes
vivid descriptions of interior settings. Mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer
furniture is mentioned several times in the novel as being as expensive
明 黑漆嵌螺鈿高羅鍋棖小平頭案 and worth sixty taels of silver during the Ming dynasty, see Xinke
xiuxiang piping Jinpingmei, (Comments on The Golden Lotus, New
Provenance: Version with Illustration), Chongzhen version, 1628-1644, vol.6, p.42.
An American private collection See also a Ming dynasty painting entitled ‘Scooping the Moon from
a Golden Basin’ in the Shanghai Museum, in which a servant is seen
來源：美國私人收藏 standing in front of a black lacquer long table with mother-of-pearl
inlay. The appearance of a lacquered and mother-of-pearl-inlaid censer
The couplet on the right side can be translated as: in a Ming dynasty portrait of a Court lady indicates the value and high
‘The blossoms swaying gently in the breeze status accorded to furniture of this type, see L.He and M.Knight,
The red petals in the rain, resembling thin silk’ Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty, Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco, 2008, pp.251 and 261, nos.140 and 148.
The couplet on the left side can be translated as:
‘The beauty of colour and texture of mother-of-pearl Compare with a related mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer luohan bed,
[are] as refined as [what is] used for the birthday cup for the Emperor Yao’ Ming dynasty, with similarly decorated pattern on the back panel of the
railing, illustrated in Collections of the Palace Museum: Inlaid Furniture,
It is rare to have such musical representation on Ming dynasty Beijing, 2009, p.22, pl.2; and another related mother-of-pearl-inlaid
furniture. The music instruments which can be identified on this table black lacquer qiaotou’an table, Ming dynasty, with similarly decorated
include pipa (Chinese lute), qin, luo (gong), zhong (bell), gu (drum), butterflies and flowers on the aprons, is illustrated in The Complete
muyu (wooden bell),sanxian (three-strings lute), sheng (similar to the Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming
Western harmonica), paiban (clapper) and di flute. In Chinese music, and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p.154, no.133. Compare
instruments such as those represented on the present table, were also with a mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer table of similar form, Kangxi,
usually played as an accompaniment in ritual practice or operas only, illustrated in ibid., p.169, no.143.
with few played as an ensemble.
See also an inlaid-mother-of-pearl lacquer table, Jiajing/Wanli period,
The present lot is a rare example of seventeenth century lacquer of identical form but with reduced legs and different decoration on the
furniture, which rarely survives in such a well-preserved condition. The top panel, from the collection of Sakamoto Goro, which was sold at
simple elegance and pleasing outline of the table demonstrate the Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2013, lot 161.
distinctive characteristics of fine Ming furniture, often made from richly
figured tropical wood such as huanghuali.

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