Page 203 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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A RARE GILT-INCISED ‘QIANGJIN’ AND 明萬曆辛卯（1591年） 戧金填漆龍紋倭
‘TIANQI’ LACQUER ‘DRAGON’ SQUARE DISH 角方盤《大明萬曆辛卯年製》款
MARK AND PERIOD OF WANLI, DATED XINMAO
YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1591 來源
Diameter 7½ in., 19 cm 日本私人收藏
PROVENANCE
Japanese Private Collection.
The current dish is an extremely rare example of the
developments in lacquer decorative techniques during the
late Ming period, which combined two methods, tianqi and
qiangjin, for use on imperial lacquer and also employs the
very rare technique of the use of silver on lacquer. The tianqi
method, or ‘in-filled lacquer’, consists of filling outlined areas
with different-colored lacquer, thereby defining the detailed
pattern. In contrast, qiangjin involves the inlaying of thin gold
leaf into finely-incised designs onto a lacquer foundation.
This latter technique was popular during the Yongle period,
and can be seen on red-lacquered sutra covers where the
surfaces have been ornately decorated in gilt; for example
see one included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese
Lacquer, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong,
1993, cat. no. 79.
A circular Wanli reign-marked dish of related form and
decorative lacquer technique was sold in our Hong Kong
rooms, 7th October 2013, lot 158, from the collection of
Sakamoto Goro. Compare another bearing a Wanli yiwei
cyclical date (1595) from the Lee Family Collection, was
included in the exhibition Dragon and Phoenix. Chinese
Lacquer Ware, The Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne,
1990,cat. no. 81; another, also dated 1595, included in the
exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, op.cit., cat. no. 84;
and a third, with a cyclical date renchen (1592), sold in our
Hong Kong rooms, 27th April 2003, lot 291.

⊖ $ 80,000-100,000

402 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 403