ANOTHER PROPERTY
A RARE IMPERIAL DATED CARVED RED AND BLACKISH-BROWN LACQUER BOWL

Details
A RARE IMPERIAL DATED CARVED RED AND BLACKISH-BROWN LACQUER BOWL
QIANLONG CARVED SEAL MARK, DATED TO THE SPRING OF THE BING YIN YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1746, AND OF THE PERIOD

The deep, rounded sides flaring towards the rim, finely carved on the exterior through the outer layer of red lacquer with a lengthy inscription composed by the emperor Qianlong and bearing two seals, Qian and long, all set between bands of ruyi heads above and below, and all reserved on a blackish-brown ground of finely carved leiwen, the plain interior also of blackish-brown color, the base and the nianhao of red color, cracks
4 5/16in. (11cm.) diam.
Provenance
Herter Bros., New York, February 6, 1888

Lot Essay

The subject matter covered in the poem includes a comparison of the color of plum blossom with finger citron, the art of tea preparation and Buddhist philosophy

Compare the very similar bowl dated to the same year in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 93. Another bowl bearing a similarly dated inscription, also with the same decoration, but of squatter shape and with a band of key- pattern scroll encircling the foot, is in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen, (Chinese Art in Overseas Collections), 'Lacquerware', Taipei, 1987, no. 171

The same design was also reproduced in blue and white on porcelain bowls. See the bowl of similar shape with Qianlong mark, included in the exhibition, Qing Mark and Period Blue and White, S Marchant & Son, London, June 11-June 22, 1984, Catalogue, no. 26