Page 151 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

This exuberantly carved cinnabar lacquer tray is remarkable The present tray, with its undercut treatment on the peony
for its masterfully executed design distinctive of its period, petals to create depth, incised veins on the leaves, and the
resulting in a harmonious composition on a rare rectangular patterning of the foliate scroll on the exterior, is reminiscent of
form. Such lacquer trays were highly prized in the Japanese another closely related example dated to the Yuan dynasty, in
market, as demonstrated by a few extant examples housed in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, illustrated in Tokugawa
various Japanese private and public collections. Art Museum, Karamono. Imported Lacquerwork – Chinese,
Korean and Ryukyuan (Okinawa), Nagoya, 1997, cat. no. 19.
Lacquerwares decorated with pairs of birds amongst
floral blooms originated from the Song dynasty and were Compare also two circular dishes with comparable designs
widely popular in the Yuan and early Ming periods. Trays and signed by the celebrated Yuan-dynasty lacquer carver,
in rectangular form with such decoration are particularly Zhang Cheng, in ibid, cat. nos 20 and 21.
rare. Compare an example formerly in a Japanese private A further rectangular example inscribed with the signature
collection, attributed to Southern Song to Yuan dynasty and of another famous Yuan-dynasty craftsman, Yang Mao, was

carved with a pair of peacocks, illustrated in Simon Kwan, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30thMay 2005, lot 1335; where
Chinese Lacquer, Hong Kong, 2010, pp. 126-127, no. 21. The the detailing on the bird’s heads, rendering of their plumage
composition of two birds in flight encircling a central floral including the layered arrangement of feathers and the two-
bloom amongst further flowers and foliage drew stylistic tiered treatment of their long tails are remarkably similar to
parallels with the present piece. the present tray.

GEMS OF CHINESE ART — THE SPEELMAN COLLECTION I 149