Page 91 - Christie's Irving Collection Lacquer Bronse jade and Ink March 2019

The choice of decoration on this box is refective of the Jiajing 嘉靖皇帝崇信道教，熱衷修練以求長生不老，因而嘉靖宮廷器物上多飾道教紋
emperor’s keen interest in Daoism and the attainment of immortality, and 樣。本件剔彩盒蓋中央飾五爪龍紋捧壽字，寓意皇上萬壽無疆。中心紋飾外以兩
as such makes use of symbols with Daoist connections. The imperial fve- 個正方形交錯界格，所形成之三角形内外飾各類道教珍寶。蓋與盒的直邊飾象徵
clawed dragon is here shown below a shou (longevity) character carved in 長生不老的靈芝紋。以上種種無一不體現嘉靖皇帝本人的道教信仰。東京李氏家
simplifed seal script. The two are surrounded by various motifs, the Eight 族舊藏有一件嘉靖剔彩龍捧壽紋圓盒，可資參照， 2012年11月28日於香港佳士
Treasures, and on the vertical sides are panels of lingzhi scroll that symbolize 得拍賣，拍品2096號。
immortality. Similar decoration can be seen on a circular covered box, also
of Jiajing date, included in the exhibition catalogue, Dragon and Phoenix: 本件蓋盒以兩個正方形界格紋飾的做法十分特殊，似為嘉靖漆器所特有。這種做
Chinese Lacquer Ware, the Lee Family Collection, Tokyo, The Museum of 法另見於四件嘉靖漆器：一件為剔彩龍紋圓盒，藏於國立故宮博物院，見《故宮
漆器特展目錄》，台北，1981年，圖版36；兩件為剔紅壽字紋八方盤，其一為歐雲
East Asian Art, Cologne, 24 March - 24 June 1990, no. 59, subsequently sold
at Christie’s, Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2096, where the dragon 伉儷捐贈予大都會博物館，載於屈志仁及Barbara Brennan Ford，《Eastern
is shown leaping below a similarly carved shou character and the sloping Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection》，頁96至
sides of the cover and box are carved with auspicious symbols supported on 97，編號34，另一件藏於舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，載於《海外遺珍：漆器》，台
北，1987年，頁103，圖版190；最後一件是剔彩圓盒 ， 蓋中央飾老君及二位手
lingzhi scroll.
捧祥瑞的童子，藏於故宮博物院，見故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集《元明漆器》，
The unusual decorative use of two interlocking square panels as a framing 香港，2006年，頁183，圖版141。
device for the central motif and the surrounding auspicious symbols may
be specifc to the Jiajing period as it seems to appear only on lacquer wares
of Jiajing date. Four such pieces have been published. As on the present
box, a large dragon decorates the center of a polychrome lacquer domed
circular box in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue
of a Special Exhibition of Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum,
1981, pl. 36. On two red lacquer octagonal trays, the central motif is a large
shou character, while the imperial fve-clawed dragon is shown enclosed
within eight small ingot-shaped reserves that decorate the eight facets on
the interior: one is illustrated by James C. Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan
Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1992, pp. 96-97, no. 34; the other,
from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, is illustrated in Chinese Art
in Overseas Collections: Lacquerware, Taipei, 1987, p. 103, pl. 190. The most
unusual central motif, a seated Daoist immortal holding a scroll while two
attendants holding oferings of a peach and a lingzhi stand before him in
a landscape setting, can be seen on a carved polychrome lacquer circular
covered box from the Qing Court collection, Palace Museum, Beijing,
illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum -
45 - Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, Hong
Kong, p. 183, pl. 141. The imperial dragon here forms an encircling border
and further auspicious symbols are shown amidst foliate scroll on the sides.

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