Page 101 - 2020 October 8 HK Fine Classical Paintings

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PROPERTY FROM THE KAISENDO MUSEUM 元 剔紅花鳥紋盤
A SUPERBLY CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER 《楊茂造》針刻款
‘MAGPIE’ TRAY
SIGNED YANG MAO, YUAN DYNASTY
of circular form, the interior carved through layers of red
lacquer with a pair of confronting magpies with outstretched
wings and long tail plumage flying amidst peony blossoms
wreathed in profuse foliage, the underside carved with
ruyi scrolls, the base lacquered black and incised with the
inscription Yang Mao zao (‘Made by Yang Mao’), Japanese
wood box
31.8 cm, 12½ in.
HK$ 600,000-800,000
US$ 77,500-104,000

The finely carved design of two magpies amidst peonies on
this exquisite dish represents a popular design motif of the
Yuan dynasty. Another example in the Tokugawa Art Museum,
Nagoya, signed by the other famous Yuan dynasty lacquer
carver Zhang Cheng, was included in the exhibition Carved
Lacquer, Tokyo, 1984, cat. no. 52. Compare also a lacquer tray
signed Yang Mao, similarly composed with long-tailed birds
depicted flying amidst peony blossoms, sold at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 30th May 2005, lot 1335. Another circular lacquer dish
size from Nishihonganji West Temple, Kyoto, also signed Yang
Mao, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th November 2005,
lot 1529. It is of slightly smaller size than the current dish,
carved with a design of lotus flowers in a lotus pond.
The carved design on the underside, known as tixi or the
Japanese term, guri (curves and circles), was a pattern
established towards the end of the Song dynasty. The scrolling
foliage design so successfully rendered here, referred to
as juancao (scrolling grass) or xiangcao (fragrant grass),
first appeared on Song dynasty lacquerwares and enjoyed
considerable popularity well into the Yuan dynasty.
On the base, the present box bears the needle-engraved
signature Yang Mao zao (‘made by Yang Mao’). Yang Mao is
known from Gegu yaolun [The essential criteria of antiquities]
by Cao Zhao of 1388, where he and Zhang Cheng, both of
Xitang in Jiaxing district, Zhejiang province, southwest of
modern Shanghai, are mentioned as carvers of red lacquer
who became famous at end of the Yuan dynasty (Xinzeng
gegu yaolun [New expanded edition of the essential criteria of
antiquities], vol. 8, p. 2).

Mark

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