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A RARE CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors. Treasured Lacquerware
CIRCULAR ‘PEONY’ BOX AND COVER in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 011,
YONGLE MARK AND PERIOD together with a Xuande example of large size and comparable
design, cat. no. 012. See two other large boxes of similar
the cover well carved through the thick cinnabar lacquer to design, dated to the early Ming dynasty, included in The
the yellow-ochre ground with three large owering peony Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum.
blooms amidst budding blossoms and dense foliage, the sides Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong,
of the box and cover similarly carved with further blooms 2006, plates 71 and 73.
interspersed with buds and leaves, the interior and recessed
base lacquered dark brown, the base incised with a six- Compare Yongle boxes of similar size and form, but carved
character reign mark, Japanese wood box (4) on the cover with ve peony blooms, such as one from the
Diameter 4⅞ in., 12.5 cm collection of H.M. King of Sweden, illustrated in Jan Wirgin,
‘Some Chinese Carved Lacquer of the Yuan and Ming Periods’,
PROVENANCE Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 44, 1972,
pl. 11, no. 14; and another from the Edward T. Chow Collection,
French Private Collection (by repute). included in the exhibition One Man’s Taste. Treasures from
the Lakeside Pavilion, Galleries of the Baur Collection, Geneva,
Boxes were among the most popular items made in carved 1988, cat. no. L11, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd May
lacquer for the imperial court during the Yongle and Xuande 1994, lot 278.
reigns, but boxes of this size and design are very rare. Skilfully
decorated on the cover with three blooming peonies among $ 20,000-30,000
dense foliage against the yellow ochre ground, this box is
notable for its deep carving contributing a greater sense of
three-dimensionality.
A Yongle box similarly carved with three peony blooms in
the National Palace Museum, Taipei, but much larger in size,
is included in the exhibition Heguang ticai. Gugong zang qi/
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 75
