Page 230 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art April 3 2018

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A CARVED BLACK AND RED GURI LACQUER 南宋至元 烏面剔犀如意雲紋長方蓋盒
BOX AND COVER 「十四」字
SOUTHERN SONG – YUAN DYNASTY
來源：
of rectangular section with rounded corners, carved overall 日本舊藏
through alternating layers of black and red guri lacquer, the
domed cover with robust ruyi-shaped pommels repeated on
the sides, the interior and base lacquered in brownish-black,
inscribed in red and ochre with two characters reading shisi
(fourteen)
18.2 cm, 7⅛ in.
PROVENANCE
An old Japanese collection.

HK$ 500,000-700,000
US$ 64,000-90,000

The present vessel belongs to a well-known group of boxes,
made in various sizes and shapes but all decorated with
attractive ruyi-shape pommels. Lacquerware of this type
is notable for the sense of vivacity that has been achieved
through the colour effect in its carvings, which is exemplified
on the present box. This decorative technique, with wide
V-shaped grooves carved into alternating layers of red and
black lacquer, is commonly known as tixi. It has generally
been used as a synonym for guri lacquer, a Japanese term
describing the spiral designs (see Lee King-tsi and Hu Shih-
chang, ‘On Chinese Tixi Lacquer’, Orientations, September
1993, vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 65-68).
This piece is outstanding for the masterfully carved design
that wraps around the corners of the box, a technique that
required a great level of skill and confidence. A closely related
box, attributed to the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279),
from the Nagata collection, Tokyo, included in the exhibition
The Colours and Forms of Song and Yuan China, Nezu Institute
of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2004, cat. no. 62, was sold at Christie’s
Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 2026. A similar box, with a Yuan
attribution, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was
included in the Museum’s exhibition East Asian Lacquer. The
Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, 1992, cat. no. 6.
Guri lacquer boxes continued to be produced in the Ming
dynasty; see one decorated with ruyi-shaped pommels and
cloud scrolls, in the National History Museum of China, Beijing,
illustrated in Zhongguo qiqi quanji [The Complete Works of
China Lacquer], vol. 5, Ming, Fujian, 1995, pl. 91; and another,
carved with ruyi between scrollwork, formerly in the collection
of Fritz Löw-Beer, in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, included
in the exhibition Im Zeichen des Drachen. Von der Schonheit
chinesischer Lacke, Museum für Lackkunst, Münster, 2006,
cat. no. 75.

228 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比