Page 69 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Round Dish with Two Paradise
and
Flycatchers Hollyhock
....................................................................................
14th
Yuan to early Ming dynasty, century
Carved red lacquer
Diam. 12 7/8 in. (32.5 cm)
Promised ofFlorence and Herbert
Irving
Gift
he flower-and-bird motif is an estab-
lished subject in carved lacquer that
reached its height of artistic and technical
refinement during the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries. The composition typically
consists of two birds in flight on a background
covered with a floral pattern, forming a two- luster of the translucent material, it also calls The dish carries an incised signature of
level design, as seen on this dish. The fore- attention to the uneven tones within the lac- Zhang Cheng, a renowned master who is
in
shortened images high relief create an quer layers, which probably resulted from the thought to have worked in the early to mid-
in
illusion of roomy pictorial space spite of settling of the red pigment. The absence of fourteenth century. Considering the confidence
the relatively thin lacquer layer they are carved hairline cracks, which can be credited to the with which this dish is carved and the exquis-
on. The number of areas of exposed ground minimized mechanical stress on the lacquer ite outcome, it is certainly worthy of the mas-
between the hollyhock branches suggest that layer due to its thinness, has helped to pre- ter's name. The approximate date suggested
this dish was made in the early or middle serve the fine incisions on the flower petals by its stylistic characteristics also falls within
fourteenth century, since later works dealing and the feathers of the paradise flycatchers. the period of Zhang's activity.
with the same theme tend to have very dense Except for a large crack at the lower left along WAS
floral backgrounds. While the fine polish per- the tail of one bird, the lacquer on this dish
fects the decorative motifs and enhances the has been well preserved.
68