Page 250 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

~930 A FINELY DECORATED LAC BURGAUTÉ 十Ӯ 十八世紀ǭ黑漆に鈿高士圖圓蓋盒
CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER 款 「方扶九ה」
17TH-18TH CENTURY
The top of the cover is finely inlaid in mother-of-pearl, gold Ϝ源
foil, and silver foil with a scene of a reclining scholar admiring a ૃ木堂
香港
flourishing lotus pond and two attendants, with one holding a fan 4ZEOFZ - .PTT -UE
倫敦
年 月
and the other boiling water for tea. A quotation from a poem by 水松⒢山房莫士撝Ⅷ藏
Zhou Dunyi is inscribed on the top left and is followed by a square 藍理捷
紐約
編號Y
seal with the name Fujiu. The interior of the cover is inlaid with a
展覽
chrysanthemum bouquet tied with a ribbon. The exterior of the box 紐約
藍理捷
「雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ」
年 月 日
is encircled by a narrow floral diaper and the base is inscribed with 編號
a four characters reading Fang Fujiu zuo (made by Fang Fujiu). The
interior of the box is further decorated with a group of articles for ֨ḛ
藍理捷
《雅ㅳ：中國文՞藝ワ》
紐約
年
編號 及封
the scholar’s desk.
面
4 in. (10 cm.) diam., cloth box
$60,000-80,000 The scene of a scholar beside a lotus pond in a garden setting was
a popular theme in paintings and on ceramics and other works of
PROVENANCE:
Grace Wu Bruce, Hong Kong. art throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is meant to
evoke the refined lifestyle of the literati. The verses on this box are
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, January 1987.
from a famous poem on the same theme by Zhou Dunyi (1017-
Hugh Moss, Shuisongshi Shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat)
1093) entitled Ai lian shuo (On the Love of Lotus). In the poem,
Collection.
Zhou uses flowers to describe different types of men and presents
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, no. x2627.
the lotus as the “gentleman among flowers,” exemplary of the
EXHIBITED: character of the ideal scholar-gentleman. The verses on this box
New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese may be translated as: “hollow at the center and straight outside;
Literati, 13-27 March 2020, no. 10. no vines and no branches” (open-minded and upright; not
overreaching and not diverging).
LITERATURE:
J. J. Lally & Co., Elegantly Made: Art for the Chinese Literati,
New York, 2020, no. 10 and cover. A lac burgauté circular box and cover of similar form to the present
box and decorated with figures in a landscape on the cover, in the
Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Qian wen wan hua: Zhongguo
lidai qiqi yishu (In a Myriad of Forms: the Ancient Chinese
Lacquers), Shanghai, 2018, pp. 196-97, no. 131, and dated to the
early Qing dynasty, 17th – 18th century.

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