Page 24 - Sotheby's Part II Collection of Sir Joeseph Hotung Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

THE PERFECT DIPLOMATIC PRESENT

REGINA KRAHL

Red lacquer boxes carved with peonies – among China’s most The wares developed under the Yongle Emperor undoubtedly show
beloved flowers – belong to the classics of early Ming lacquer ware. the best and most mature lacquer carving style ever developed
The present box with its superbly laid-out and executed lush floral in China, and the present box is a prime example of this. These
design and impressive size is an exceptionally powerful work of art. cylindrical boxes with their flat round tops covered with horror-vacui
Unlike porcelain, carved lacquer ware with its extremely labour- designs relentlessly show-case the artisans’ abilities to arrive at a
intensive production process, did not lend itself to production in harmonious layout, to balance the criss-crossing layers of leaves
large series and is altogether much rarer; but the carved lacquer craft with their differently veined upper- and undersides across the
underwent a similar development as the contemporary porcelain circular space, to rhythmically embed blossoms in different stages of
industry. Relentless court intervention and supervision in the Yongle maturity among the foliage, and to reveal roughly equal amounts of
period (1403-24) led to a dramatic increase in quality without stifling the yellow base lacquer in between. Yongle lacquer wares are usually
artistic ingenuity. Like with blue-and-white porcelain, artists at the so densely filled with motifs that very little of the ground colour
Yongle court appear to have refined the designs which were sent is exposed. When the court reclaimed the wares of the imperial
to the workshops to manufacture. Many of these Yongle products workshops more and more for its own use, as we move towards the
seem to have been intended not to furnish the imperial palace but Xuande period (1426-35), quality remained high but production saw
to serve as diplomatic gifts to foreign sovereigns. An important continuity rather than new inspiration, and increased standardization.
Ming document that records presents from the court of the Yongle Boxes of the exceptional size of the present piece seem to have
Emperor to the Ashikaga Shogun of Japan, shows that between been created almost exclusively in the Yongle period, or even slightly
1403 and 1407 the Chinese court sent 203 pieces of carved red earlier.
lacquer to the Japanese ruler. As auspicious flowers symbolizing
wealth and honour, peonies were the perfect design for such gifts.

THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG I 47