Page 108 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
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A RARE TWO-SIDED MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK See the catalogue, East Asian Lacquer, Bukchon Art Museum, Seoul,
LACQUER ‘PALACE UNDER MOONLIGHT’ RECTANGULAR BOX South Korea, 2008, pp. 98-109, no’s 1-45 to 1-53 for a range of 14th
AND COVER to 16th century mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquers with similar depictions.
Yuan/Early Ming dynasty, 14th/15th century No. 1-53, an ink stone box, has very similar side borders and a large
The two-part box and cover delicately decorated to the cover with an prunus spray inlaid to the underside. For a Yuan dynasty hanging
extensive palace scene with large storied buildings with balustrades, screen with similar equestrian figures sheltered by canopy bearing
pathways and gardens dotted with many figures, set beneath a attendants set in a garden with balustrades before a palace and pines,
glorious pine tree with distant hills and clouds below a crescent see L. K. Tsi and H. S. Chang, Dragon and Phoenix, Chinese Lacquer
moon, numerous figures people the foreground ranging from scholars Ware, The Lee Family Collection, Tokyo, The Museum of East Asian
at various pursuits, noble figures with attendants and figures on Art, Cologne , 1990, pp. 206-207, No. 90.
horseback sheltered by parasol-wielding servants, the sides of the box
and cover decorated with wide ogival panels with birds amidst fruiting For an early Ming tray dated to the 14/15th century with another
branches on a dense fern-like scrolling ground with stylized flower garden setting, see Julia M. White, Masterpieces of Chinese Lacquer
heads, the base inlaid with two birds standing on the branches of a from the Mike Healy Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2002, pp.
blossoming prunus. 38-39, No. 8.
16in (40.6cm) long; 9 7/8in (25.2cm) wide; 3 3/8in (8.6cm) deep,
wood box For an octagonal tray, inlaid at its center with a similar prunus spray
(plum blossom) and attributed to the Yuan to early Ming period, see
$15,000 - 20,000 James C. Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer, The
Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
元/明早期 十四/十五世紀 黑漆嵌螺鈿月下宮殿圖盒蓋 New York, 1991, pp.126-127, no. 55 and also a nine-sided dish with
very similar borders to those on the sides of our box and cover, ibid,
pp.124-125, No. 54.

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