Page 244 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

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A MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID LACQUER STATIONERY BOX
JOSEON DYNASTY (16TH-17TH CENTURY)
The rectangular box and flush-fitting cover finely decorated in inlaid
mother-of-pearl with stylized lotus blossoms and buds on a dark
brown ground
15¡ x 12¡ x 4 in. (39.1 x 31.4 x 10.2 cm.)
$50,000-70,000

PROVENANCE:
Sakamoto Goro (1923–2016)
Previously sold Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, Chinese Art Through the Eye of
Sakamoto Goro - Asian Lacquer, 27 May 2014 (Hong Kong: Sotheby's),
2014, lot 902.

EXHIBITED:
Ho’am Gallery and Ho’am Museum, "Treasures of the Early Joseon
Dynasty," 1996, 12.14-1997.2.11.
LITERATURE:
Ho’am Gallery and Ho’am Museum, ed., Joseon Jeongi Gukbo Jeon / detail
Treasures of the Early Joseon Dynasty (Seoul: Samseong Munhwa Jaedan
and Ho’am Gallery; Yong’in: Ho’am Museum, 1996), p. 206, no. 158.

Formerly owned by the distinguished Japanese collector, dealer, continued into the succeeding Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), usually
and connoisseur Sakamoto Gor (1923–2016) and once exhibited in black lacquer with bold floral designs inlaid in mother of pearl,
at the Samsung Ho’am Gallery, Seoul, this rare, sixteenth- to as witnessed by this important stationery box; increasingly in
seventeenth-century, Korean lacquer stationery box has an the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, the tradition
enviable history. Its decoration, inlaid in mother of pearl, features expanded to include both red and black lacquers and the inlays to
stylized lotus blossoms and buds that scroll gracefully over the include tortoiseshell, sharkskin, and twisted copper or brass wires
cover’s top and sides. in addition to mother of pearl. Differing from the Chinese, who
generally preferred cinnabar lacquer with carved decoration, and
Although they superficially resemble—and, indeed, are often from the Japanese who tended to favor black lacquer with designs
incorrectly termed—orchids, or even peony blossoms, the inlaid in gold, Koreans were partial to lacquers with designs inlaid
flowers depicted on this box are actually stylized lotus blossoms, in mother of pearl.
as indicated by the appearance of the associated buds. The
stylized blossoms—which are known as fanlian in Chinese and as The balanced but slightly asymmetrical design on the cover
byeonryeon in Korean—likely first appeared in the silk textiles of this box finds kinship in the designs on contemporaneous
of China’s Song dynasty (960– 1279). Popularized in Chinese Korean buncheong wares with slip-inlaid decoration. In fact, the
porcelainsof the Yuan (1279–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) decorative scheme on this box derives from Korean inlaid lacquers
dynasties, the foreign lotus design, or fanlianwen, spread to Korea of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as the two stationery
early in the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) and was incorporated boxes in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
into the decorative schemes of Korean blue-and-white porcelain, York (2015.500.3.1a, b and 2015.500.3.2a, b ). Related boxes are
buncheong ware, and inlaid lacquers. in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (19.652a-b)
and of the National Museum of Korea, Seoul (Deoksu 4378 and
Though little is known of the earliest history of lacquer-making Deoksu 4182 ).
in Korea, archaeological evidence indicates that Korean craftsmen
were making lacquered objects at least two thousand years ago, Its fine quality, exquisite craftsmanship, excellent condition,
in the late Neolithic and early historic periods. By the Goryeo esteemed provenance, and distinguished exhibition and publication
dynasty (918–1392) Koreans were producing elegant lacquer vessels history combine to signal this lacquer box’s exceptional importance.
and sutra-storage chests in black lacquer embellished with small Indeed, the rarity of early and mid-Joseon lacquers with decoration
floral designs inlaid in mother of pearl, the designs occasionally inlaid in mother of pearl makes this box all the more important; in
augmented with small, twisted, metal wires inset as borders and fact, it ranks among the most important such lacquers to come on
as the stems in floral arabesques. The tradition of inlaid lacquers the market in recent years.