Page 94 - Chiense works of art sothebys march 14 2017 nyc

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PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTION See two tixi lacquer boxes of similar form and closely related
design, one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco,
A RARE ‘TIXI’ LACQUER BOX AND COVER published in Hai-wai Yi-chen. Chinese Art in Overseas
MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD Collections. Lacquerware, Taipei, 1987, pl. 73; and the other
included in the exhibition East Asian Lacquer. The Florence and
of circular section with a attened top, the upper surface of the Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
cover deeply carved with uid swirling classic scrolls extending New York, 1991, cat. no. 11.
down the sides revealing alternating layers of red, black and
yellow lacquers, the sides of the box similarly carved, the Compare the tixi lacquer box and cover sold in our London
interiors and recessed base lacquered black, the base incised rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 68; and another, of larger size (8
with a three-character mark reading Yang Mao zao (made by 3/8 in., 21.3 cm), sold in these rooms, 16th-17th September
Yang Mao), Japanese wood box (3) 2014, lot 546.
Diameter 4⅛ in., 10.4 cm
$ 60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE

Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th April 2001, lot 642.

The carved design on the current box, known as tixi or the 2001 4 30 642
Japanese term, guri (curves and circles), was a pattern
established towards the end of the Song dynasty. The design
on the current box, where the geometric design is made up
mainly of detached ruyi motifs gained popularity from the Yuan
dynasty onwards.

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