Page 210 - Christies September 13 to 14th Fine Chinese Works of Art New York

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
1227
A VERY RARE CARVED RED LACQUER ‘LOTUS’ SEAL PASTE BOX AND COVER
MING DYNASTY, EARLY 15TH CENTURY
Both the center of the cover and box are fnely carved through the multiple layers of red lacquer
with a central hexagonal lotus seed pod encircled by an interlocking lozenge band, the sides
with stylized lotus petals, and the interiors are lacquered black.
3¿ in. (7.9 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box, cloth pouch

$100,000-150,000

PROVENANCE
Anthony Carter, Ltd., London.
Boxes of this design are often found as part of utensils used in tea ceremonies in temples. A number
of such sets are published, including one from the Tokyo National Museum Collection, and another from
a private collection, both included in the exhibition Carved Lacquer in 1984 by the Tokugawa and Nezu
Museums, and illustrated in the Catalogue pp. 86-87, nos. 120 and 121, the latter with a tray bearing a
Zhou Ming zao mark. Another set was included in the exhibition of Chinese Lacquerwork, Tokyo Bijitsu
Club, 20-22 May 1970, no. 83.

A box of the same size and identical design is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, 1971, no.20.
A slightly smaller box (6.7 cm. diam.), in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 45 - Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong
Kong, 2006, p. 102, no. 74. Two boxes from the Fritz Low-Beer Collection, now in the Linden-Museum,
Stuttgart, one with an incised Yongle mark, the other with a Xuande mark, are illustrated in Im Zeichen
Des Drachen, Munchen, 2006, pp. 104-105, nos. 38 and 39 where a dating of this group to the Yuan-
early Ming dynasty is postulated.
明十五世紀早期 剔紅蓮紋圓蓋盒

(another view)
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