Page 73 - Bonhams Chinese Art September 2015 NY

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182
a PolyChrome laCquer ‘Pomegranates’ box and
Cover
Qianlong
The cover finely carved to the top with a central medallion of three
cinnabar red pomegranates decorated with a floral diaper pattern
and borne out of leafy and gnarled tendrils, a small bee resting atop,
all raised on a black ground carved with an earth diaper pattern, the
cinnabar red sides with further diapers, the base finely incised with a
large stylised lotus flowerhead enclosing a wan symbol.
7.5cm (3in) diam. (2).

£3,000 - 5,000 HK$36,000 - 60,000
CNY29,000 - 48,000

183
a Cinnabar laCquer ‘lotus and Peony’ bowl
Possibly Yunnan, 16th century
Sharply and deeply carved to the exterior with a central band of
scrolling lotus and peonies, beneath a decorative band of earth diaper
enclosing chrysanthemums at the rim and an upright lappet band at
the foot, the interior and base left black.
11.4cm (4 1/2in) diam.

£800 - 1,200 HK$9,600 - 14,000
CNY7,700 - 12,000

The present lot, with its dark, reddish-brown colour, the deep and 183
sharp cuts of its carving and the density of its design, well matches
the characteristics of Yunnan carved lacquer as described by late Ming
authors (Garner, Chinese lacquer, London, 1979, pp. 131-134).
16th century dishes attributed to Yunnan workshops are illustrated by
J. C. Y. Watt & B. B. Ford in East Asian Lacquer - The Florence and
Herbert Irving Collection, New York, 1991, p. 91, pl. 31, and by Sir
H. Garner, Chinese lacquer, London, 1979, p. 135, pl. 72 and 73. A
Yunnan carved stem bowl with a similar chrysanthemum band and lotus
design, was sold at Christies Hong Kong on 30 May 2012, lot 4226.

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