MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-16TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE SMALL THREE-TIERED CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER BOX AND COVER
MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-16TH CENTURY
Of square section with indented corners, the cover carved with two bearded scholars in conversation, followed by an attendant bearing a fruit bowl and pointing out the way, all beneath pine trees and prunus blossoms within a rocky landscape and reserved against a background of elongated key fret, the sides carved with various flowers, the shallow foot with an elongated key-fret border
3¼ in. (8.2 cm.) high, box

Provenance

Edward T. Chow Collection.
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 3 - 4 May 1994, lot 293.
The Oriental Art Gallery Ltd., London, 1995.

Exhibited

Geneva, Galleries of the Baur Collection, Exhibition of One Man's Taste, Treasures from the Lakeside Pavilion, 1988 - 1989, no. L 10.

Lot Essay

Some of the flowers depicted on this box are those of the Four Seasons, which are, 'Prunus for winter - symbolic of beauty; peony for spring and wealth; lotus for summer and purity; and the chrysanthemum for autumn and steadfast friendship'.
Compare the similarly carved red lacquer three-tiered box with cover of square section, dated to the late 15th century, in the British Museum, illustrated by Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 99, no. 41, and another sold in these rooms, 21 March 2002, lot 14. Although both of these are of larger size (14.5 and 15.9 cm. respectively), they are similarly carved with a figural scene on the cover and flower sprays on the sides.

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