Page 186 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

250

PROPERTY OF A JAPANESE GENTLEMAN
A BLACK LACQUER DISH
SONG DYNASTY
delicately constructed with the sides sweeping
upward in an elegant, everted curvature, six
evenly spaced ridges radiating around the
cavetto for a foliate e! ect, a thin raised lip
around the rim, the base slightly recessed,
coated allover in brownish-black lacquer
thinning at the raised areas, Japanese wood
box (3)
Diameter 7¼ in., 18.4 cm
$ 6,000-8,000
⬳ġġġ湹㺮剙⺷䚌

251

A SILK ‘DRAGON MEDALLION’
FRAGMENT
YUAN DYNASTY
the square fragment woven with lobed
medallions enclosing coiled dragons against a
250
Þ eld of ß ame wisps and auspicious emblems,
the decoration formed from exposed rose-
colored silk threads reserved from the weft of
ß at silvered paper strips
Height 15¾ in., 40 cm; Width 17 in., 43 cm
Central Asian textiles with lobed medallions
were introduced in China during the Sui and
Tang dynasties. Such textiles were prized, and
could be used as currency or to express one’s
wealth. The lobed medallions were translated
into Chinese brocades and continued to be
cherished during the Mongol Yuan period.
Compare another Yuan dynasty gold-faced
paper and silk woven brocade fragment with a
similar dragon medallion design from the Amy
S. Clague Collection, published in Weaving
China’s Past, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix,
2000, cat. no. 2.
$ 4,000-6,000
⃫ġġġ䴚䷼⛀漵䲳㭀䇯

251

184 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART