Page 75 - Bonhams Chinese Art September 2015 NY

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a Pair of Cinnabar laCquer baluster vases
19th/20th century
Each vase of exaggerated baluster form, the body carved with scholars
and attendants in a pastoral landscape, the waisted neck and foot
decorated with a scrolling foliate meander. Each:44cm (17 1/4in) high (2).

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

See a comparable smaller baluster vase, dated 19th century, in the
British Museum Collection no. 1978,1113.11

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a moulded Cinnabar laCquer bottle vase
Qing Dynasty
The globular vessel decorated in appliqué with the Eight Immortals
in a mountainous landscape, the mouth rim, shoulder and foot rim
embellished with stylised foliate borders, all reserved on a moulded
wan-diaper ground, bearing an apocryphal Wanli six-character mark.
42cm (16 1/2in) high

£2,000 - 3,000 HK$24,000 - 36,000
CNY19,000 - 29,000

The decorative technique on the present lot has its origins in the 188 Y Ф
applique lacquer-work of the 7th century, and belongs to a group a Canton ivory Puzzle set and Case
of moulded lacquer wares that first appear in the 18th century and 19th century
continue through the Late Qing Dynasty. Rather than applying the Comprising twelve separate carved ivory toys and games, all contained
lacquer in thin layers and carving the design the maker would instead in a gilt and lacquer carry case.
mix up a special lacquer with ash and mould the material in one The lacquer case: 37.5cm (14 3/4in) wide
thick layer. This technique is first described in the Essential Criteria of
Antiquities, Gegu Yaolun, (1388) by Cao Zhao as duihong or ‘built up £500 - 800 HK$6,000 - 9,600
lacquer’, but to date no Ming Dynasty examples have emerged. CNY4,800 - 7,700

Compare with smaller bottle vase, 19th century, also bearing an For another lacquer games box, c.1860, replete with ivory puzzles, see
apocryphal Wanli reign mark and donated to the British Museum in D.S. Howard, A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong,
1978 by Sir Harry Garner, acquisition no. 1978,1113.9. London 1997, p. 189, no. 248.

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