Page 239 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Fine Chinese Art

Polychrome painted lacquer was highly popular in the late Ming
dynasty. The Xiushi lu, a manual for lacquer manufacture compiled
during the early 17th century, mentions two types of filled-in lacquer:
the ‘carve and inlay’ type, loukan, according to which certain areas
were cut out of the otherwise finished lacquer surface and inlaid with
variously coloured lacquer, and the ‘filled-in’ or ‘polish-reveal’ method, Buddhists as symbolic of enlightenment and purity and may have also
moxian, when certain portions of the design were raised through
multiple layers of lacquer as the ground was filled with additional
lacquer and the boundaries between the different colour fields defined
by engraved and gilt lines.
The highly auspicious designs on this stand suggest religious
associations concerning the attainment of Immortality. The floating
landscape may have been conceived as the Daoist realm of Kunlun.
The blossoming lotus flowers may have also evoked the transmutation
of lacquer into gold, a Daoist process aimed at driving away malignant
spirits and acquiring immortality.
As a flower emerging from mud, however, the lotus was regarded by
evoked the rebirth in the wondrous Pure Land of Buddha Amitabha.
Lacquer stands dating to the Ming dynasty and combining carving and filling
techniques are rare. A similarly-shaped stand, Ming dynasty, is illustrated by
Lee Yu-kuan, Oriental Lacquer Art, Tokyo, 1972, pl.244, p.319.
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