Page 107 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

PROPERTY FROM THE MEE-DIN AND ROBERT W. MOORE PROPERTY FROM THE MEE-DIN AND ROBERT W. MOORE
COLLECTION OF CHINESE LACQUER COLLECTION OF CHINESE LACQUER
112 113
A MING CARVED CINNABAR CIRCULAR ‘CRANE OR AN TIXI BLACK AND CINNABAR LACQUER SQUARE DISH
EGRET’ DISH Early Ming Dynasty, 15th Century
15th Century With rounded corners, carved in low relief through layers of primarily
The shallow rounded sides carved to the interior in low relief with black lacquer and a thin layer of cinnabar red with three registers of
a crane or egret with out-stretched wings amidst large full-faced radiating pommel scrolls surrounding a central pointed cross-like motif,
peony flower-heads and peony buds on a curiously spiky and wavy- all below a rounded rim, the exterior sides with a continuous register of
edged leaf backdrop with large gaps revealing the pale honey-beige carved scrolls issuing from a central wavy line, a simple rounded square
ground beneath, the exterior with composite floral ground with peony, foot rim and plain black-lacquered base.
chrysanthemum, lotus and plum blossom, also with large channelling 6 3/4in (17.2cm) across
revealing the honey-beige layer beneath, and above a sixteen-sided
polygon edge at the base (missing foot). $4,000 - 7,000
7 7/8in (20cm) diameter
明早期 十五世紀 剔犀如意雲紋盤
$2,000 - 4,000
For an early lacquer square box and cover, dated Yuan-Ming dynasty,
明 十五世紀 剔紅花鳥紋圓盤 with the tixi decoration carved in slightly deeper relief than ours but
with a very similar central motif and ‘pommel-scroll’ surrounds, see
For a larger black lacquer dish dated to the Yuan dynasty, see Klaus Christie’s, New York, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection,
J. Brandt, Chinesische Lackarbeiten, Linden-Museum Stuttgart, 1988, Part II, 20 March 2019, lot 1123. For a tixi lacquer square dish of
pp. 74-75, no. 28. It also shares some of the idiosyncratic treatment of similar outline and near identical registers, see Bonhams, London, 4
some of the leaves of our example, which also forms a wave-like edge November 2019, lot 291.
below the plain rounded rim. It is centered by two crane or egrets set
amongst dense peony sprays. The reverse side however has a design For another tray of rectangular shape but dated Song-Yuan dynasty,
of classic scroll and not the composite floral scroll of ours. A circular see Christie’s, Hong Kong, Important Chinese Lacquer from the Lee
box and cover in cinnabar lacquer also decorated with two crane or Family Collection, Part II, 1 December 2009, lot 1804.
egrets amidst peony is illustrated in 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer,
The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The
Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, pp. 78-79, no. 34, and bears
comparison. See also, James C.Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford,
East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, pp.72-73, no. 21, for a
larger cinnabar lacquer dish dated to the late 14th-early 15th century
carved in a similar style with two peacocks amidst peony, though
lacking the wavy-edge leaves of the aforementioned items.

FINE CHINESE PAINTINGS & WORKS OF ART | 105