Page 21 - Emil Hultmark Collection Chinese art, Hong Kong Sotheby's .pdf

This superbly carved box is characteristic of the finest no. 45, was sold in our London rooms, 15th October 1968,
specimens of early Ming lacquer. The lively dragon is lot 33, and again in these rooms, 18th May 1982, lot 45 (fig.
masterfully rendered in its dramatically twisting body in 2); another in the Taipei Palace Museum, inscribed with a
pursuit of a flaming pearl, its movement skilfully captured by Yongle mark and period beneath a carved Xuande mark, is
the thickly built-up layers of lacquer to successfully convey a illustrated in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colours. Treasures
sense of three-dimensionality. Imperial lacquer wares of the Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014,
Yongle period are so impeccably executed that the Qianlong pl. 33 (fig. 3). Compare also a third box, but with the dragon
Emperor (r. 1736-1795) praised them as the most prosperous carved on a diaper ground and a variation of the cloud design,
period of lacquer craftsmanship. in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Lacquerware in
the Collection of the Palace Museum. Classics of the Forbidden
The Yongle Emperor is well known as an active patron of City, Beijing, 2012, pl. 21.
the arts, which as a result flourished during his reign. The
remarkable workmanship of imperial lacquer objects from The design on this box is closely related to examples with
this period can be attributed to the strict supervision by the Xuande marks, suggesting that such motifs may have been
Court on the Guoyuanchang(Orchard Workshop), which was made by craftsmen working at the Imperial Court during both
set up by the Yuyongjian (Office of Imperial Use), following the reigns. Such boxes are equally rare and virtually all in Museum
re-establishment of Beijing as the imperial capital. Located collections. A box of related size and workmanship inscribed
outside the Forbidden City, the workshop was staffed with with a Xuande mark is preserved in the Shanghai Museum,
the most skilled craftsmen summoned from all over China, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Ancient Lacquerware, Beijing,
and was headed by Zhang Degang, son of the famous lacquer 1987, pl. 54 (fig. 4); while another is in the Palace Museum,
craftsman of the Yuan dynasty, Zhang Cheng. The five-clawed Beijing, illustrated Lacquerware in the Collection of the Palace
dragon depicted on the box cover is a classic Yongle design, Museum, op. cit., pl. 33; a third in the Tokyo National Museum,
also embroidered as a medallion on the robe the Emperor Tokyo, was included in the Museum’s exhibition Toyo no
wears on his most famous portrait preserved in the Palace Urushi Kogei [Oriental Lacquer Arts], Tokyo, 1977, cat. no.
Museum, Taipei (fig. 1). 514; and a further example was sold on three occasions in
these rooms, most recently on 4th April 2012, lot 3200. See
Yongle mark and period boxes of this form and design are very
rare and only few examples appear to be published: a slightly also an unmarked example in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart,
smaller version, from the collections of Mrs Walter Sedgwick published in Monika Kopplin, Im Zeichen der Drachen [In
the sign of the dragons], Munchen, 2006, pl. 43, as well as
and Frederick Knight, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society another, possibly the same box, illustrated in Fritz Low-Beer,
of Hong Kong exhibition 2000 years of Chinese Lacquer,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. ‘Chinese Lacquer of the Early 15th Century’, B.M.F.E.A. no. 22,
Stockholm, 1950, pl. 14.

fig. 2 fig. 3 fig. 4
Carved cinnabar lacquer box and cover, mark and period of Carved cinnabar lacquer box and cover, mark and period Carved cinnabar lacquer box and cover, mark and period of
Yongle, Collections of Mrs Walter Sedgwick and Frederick of Yongle beneath a carved Xuande mark, National Palace Xuande, Shanghai Museum
Knight, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 18th May 1982, lot 45 Museum, Taipei 圖四
圖二 圖三 明宣德 剔紅雲龍紋蓋盒《大明宣德年製》刀刻款，上海博
明永樂剔紅雲龍紋蓋盒《大明永樂年製》針刻款，香港蘇富比 明永樂剔紅雲龍紋蓋盒《大明永樂年製》針刻款後刀刻《大明 物館藏
1982年5月18日，編號45 宣德年製》款，台北國立故宮博物院藏

CHINESE WORKS OF ART FROM THE COLLECTION OF EMIL HULTMARK 19