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Lot Essay
Rectangular forms are especially rare in tixi lacquer, but have been found in excavations. A rectangular panel decorated with black tixi with red layers beneath, was discovered in the cargo of a ship which foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea in A.D. 1323, and is illustrated in Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan: Materials, Seoul, 1985, pl. 134.
A later (Jiajing period) rectangular tray based on the same design was included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, no. 30. The change in the execution of the design from the Song/Yuan prototype to the later Ming example can clearly be observed in these two examples. Compare also an early Ming example, reputedly a gift of the Japanese royal family, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1786; and a Song/Yuan example from the Lee Family Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1804.
A later (Jiajing period) rectangular tray based on the same design was included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, no. 30. The change in the execution of the design from the Song/Yuan prototype to the later Ming example can clearly be observed in these two examples. Compare also an early Ming example, reputedly a gift of the Japanese royal family, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1786; and a Song/Yuan example from the Lee Family Collection sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1804.