Page 229 - Christie's IMPORTANT CHINESE Ceramics and Works of Art may 28 2021 hk

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A RARE RED AND BLACK TIXI LACQUER 宋 / 元 剔犀如意雲紋方盒
SQUARE BOX AND COVER 來源
SONG-YUAN DYNASTY (960-1368) 李經港 (1950-2021)，香港
The exterior is finely carved through layers of red and black 存世的方形剔犀盒相當罕見，而且年代皆稍晚。比較歐雲伉儷贈予大
lacquer in tixi style with ruyi motifs. The sides of the box are 都會博物館一件元代剔犀如意雲紋長方盒，著錄於《East Asian Lacquer:
covered in brown lacquer, and raised on a low stand with The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection》，紐約，1992 年，圖版 6 號；
curvilinear aprons carved with cloud motifs. 及歐雲伉儷舊藏一件元明剔犀雲紋正方蓋盒，2019 年 3 月 21 日於紐約
8√ in. (22.5 cm.) square, Japanese wood box
佳士得拍賣，拍品 1123 號。
HK$600,000-800,000 US$78,000-120,000

PROVENANCE
King Kong Lee (1950-2021), Hong Kong
Square and rectangular forms are rare in tixi or guri
lacquer, especially one of this early date. A rectangular
panel decorated with black tixi lacquer with red
underlayers, was discovered in the cargo of a ship, which
foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea in A.D. 1323,
illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan:
Materials III, Seoul, 1985, pl. 134.
Compare also with a rectangular red tixi lacquer box
(20 x 11.8 x 6 cm.) dated to the Yuan dynasty carved
with now in the Metropolitan Museum, illustrated by J.
Watt and B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and
Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, 1992, p. 49-50, no. 6; and a square
black and red tixi lacquer box and cover from the Irving
Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2019,
lot 1123.
The icy green colour of this particular stone, chalcedony,
was utilised cleverly to resemble jadeite. Compare to
a jadeite flower receptacle of similar translucent green
tones in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Small
Refined Articles of the Study: The Complete Collection of
Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2009, p.
336, no. 333.

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