Page 388 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

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A fine red lacquer four-tiered box and cover
16th century
The top of the cover crisply and deeply carved with a young figure
standing on a rocky promontory beneath willow and an older figure
punting a raft, the five sides of the tiers each with panels of crickets
alternately in profile and facing forward surrounded by assorted leafy
blossoms, the bottom tier with a wider-spreading foot, Japanese wood
box and cover.
18cm (7in) high (7).
£20,000 - 30,000
HK$240,000 - 350,000 CNY190,000 - 280,000

十六世紀 剔紅泛舟圖四層方盒

Provenance: acquired from Sydney L. Moss, London on 16 December
1986
A European private collection

來源：1986年12月16日購於倫敦古董商Sydney L. Moss
歐洲私人收藏

The present four-tiered box is extremely rare for its carving around the
sides of crickets or mantis amidst floral blossoms. Compare a four-
tiered lacquer box and cover, mid Ming Dynasty, from the Qing Court
Collection, carved with peony blossoms around the sides and a boat in
a mountainous river landscape on the cover, illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the
Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Beijing, 2006, pl.82 (see fig.1 left). See also
another similar example, dated late 15th to early 16th century, illustrated
by S.Kwan, Chinese Lacquer: The Muwen Tang Collection Series 20,
Hong Kong, 2010, no.62.

fig.1 Image courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing
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