Page 99 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

The 17th century manual for lacquer
盤四方倭角，隨形圈足。通體黃素地上雕黑漆。
manufacture, Xiushi lu [A Treatise of Lacquer 盤內隨形開光，雕一對長尾綬鳥相對飛舞於牡丹
Art], illustrates the high level of esteem in which 叢中；盤壁雕四季花卉。外壁飾剔犀卷草紋，圈
black lacquer wares have been held. Through 足內髹黑漆，蛇腹斷紋清晰可見。
drawing comparisons with cinnabar lacquer
wares, it highlights the understated elegance of 《髹飾錄》曰：「剔黑，即雕黑漆也，製比雕紅
black lacquer. Black lacquer wares are produced
則敦樸古雅。又朱錦者，美甚。朱地、黃地者次
from carving a design through a build-up of
之。」剔黑，以黑漆堆積，後剔刻紋飾，亦稱雕
layers of lacquer; carved through the thick
黑漆。此盤堆漆肥厚，運刀嫻熟，刀口圓潤，翎
layers of black lacquer, the precise and rounded
毛刻劃細緻，花紋葉脈利落，枝葉茂盛，錯落有
outlines of the present dish demonstrate the
致，生動有致。
craftsman’s skilled execution. In addition to the
fine incisions picked out to accentuate the birds’
plumage, the vibrancy of the design is further 文獻記載雕漆工藝始於唐朝，然觀迄今出土之雕
brought out through the meticulous detailing 漆器實例，僅及宋代。宋代漆工藝承前啟後，雕
of the floral veins and rendering of the dense 漆興起，造型樸實無華，而單色雕漆最能表現其
foliage. 時代特色，備受文人雅仕推崇與讚譽。元代漆器
Documented literary sources state that lacquer 與前朝基本相同，惟有少數品種不再續作；單色
carving started in the Tang dynasty, however, 漆器造形端莊素雅，漆質光亮，成就甚高。
excavated examples can only be traced back
to as early as the Song dynasty. Building upon 傳世品中，宋元剔黑漆器寥若晨星。紐約大都會
an emulation of preceding reigns and the 藝術博物館藏一件四方倭角盤，定代元朝，尺寸
contemporaneous growing popularity of carved 較小，剔黑茶花綬鳥，盤背同飾剔犀卷草紋，原
lacquer, Song dynasty lacquer wares exude a
為 Florence and Herbert Irving 伉儷舊藏，刊於
sense of modesty, which, complemented with
屈志仁及 Barbara Brennan Ford，《East Asian
a monochromatic scheme, became highly
Lacquer》，紐約，1991年，圖版18；另一件定
extolled and praised by the gentry and scholar-
代明至元朝，盤呈圓形，剔黑茶花綬鳥，見圖
literati. The production of certain lacquer vessels
版20。
ceased by the Yuan dynasty though the carved
lacquer repertoire remained largely similar; the
minimalistic elegance of monochrome lacquer
carving became further heightened with a more
lustrous finish.
Extant black lacquer wares dated to the Song-
Yuan dynasty are extremely rare. A similar Yuan
dynasty dish of this shape but smaller in size,
from the collection of Florence and Herbert
Irving and now in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, is published in James C.Y. Watt
and Barbara Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer,
New York, 1991, pl. 18; see also a related circular
example, dated to the Ming-Yuan dynasty,
decorated with long-tailed birds and camellia
blooms, illustrated ibid., pl. 20.
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