MING DYNASTY, EARLY 15TH CENTURY

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.