Page 118 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

PROPERTY FROM THE MEE-DIN AND ROBERT W. MOORE
COLLECTION OF CHINESE LACQUER
129
AN EARLY RED AND ENGRAVED GILT (QIANGJIN) LACQUER
THREE-TIER OCTAGONAL BOX AND COVER
Song/Yuan Dynasty
The stepped domed cover incised and gilt with a scene depicting two
scholarly figures on horseback with attendants arriving at a terraced
lakeside building with a newly-leaved willow nearby, the sides with panels
depicting various animals, floral sprays, birds and figural groups on cell-
grounds, comprising two collars, a base, an individual liner tray and cover.
11in (28cm) high, 12in (30.5cm) across

$15,000 - 25,000
宋/元 朱漆戗金人物花鳥圖八角蓋盒

For a circular box and cover dated to the Song dynasty (960-1279)
depicting an extremely similar scene, with a rider paying a visit to four
sages set within an ogival panel and reserved on a similar densely-hatched
ground, see 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, The Oriental Ceramic Society
of Hong Kong and Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993,
pp.150-151, no. 78. The scene itself depicts a scene from Shiji, Liuhou
shijia (Biography of Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu) about the prince Liu Ying
paying a visit to the four sages, Shangshan Sihao, in the Shang mountains
after they turned down the offer of the Emperor, Liu Bang, to serve at the
Han court. Like our box, the side includes animals within shaped panels
and the lower section has seasonal flower panels. It is also illustrated by Lee
King Tsi and Hu Shih Chang, Drache Und Phoenix, Lackarbeiten aus China,
The Lee Family Collection, Tokyo (Dragon And Phoenix, Chinese Lacquer
Ware), The Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, 1990, pp.176-177, no. 76.
Another covered box of the same period with sages on a moored vessel is
illustrated in the same publication, pp.174-175, no. 75.

See also a square dish dated to the twelfth century decorated with two
pheasants on rockwork amidst peony sprays illustrated by Lee Yu-kuan,
Oriental Lacquer Art, New York and Tokyo, 1972, pp.106-107, no. 44.

For an octagonal tiered box dated to the Yuan dynasty with identically-
domed cover, molded edges and waisted foot but with one less section
and depicting floral decoration only, see Ann Yonemura, ‘The Art of Chinese
Lacquer’, Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Fall/
Winter Issue, 1987-1988, pp. 31-49, fig. 18, where it is described as one
of the most exquisite lacquers in the Sackler Gallery. The author notes
that the lacquer surfaces of qiangjin lacquers are relatively thin and that
the comparatively weak adhesion of the primary material between the
wood surface and the final lacquer layers make these pieces especially
fragile and few have survived. qiangjin lacquers were highly regarded both
in China, where they appear among the objects in imperial tombs, and in
Japan, where they were exported and have been preserved for centuries in
Buddhist temples and in private collections.

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