THE EMPEROR'S DESK
A RARE EARLY MING CINNABAR LACQUER BOX AND COVER

Details
A RARE EARLY MING CINNABAR LACQUER BOX AND COVER
INSCRIBED XUANDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The top of the cover carved and incised through layers of lacquer with budding and blossoming peonies among dense leafy stems to a yellow ground, the side of the box and cover similarly carved with a mixed floral frieze comprising blossoming lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and mallow, the recessed base and interior lacquered black, the incised and gilt reign mark in a vertical line at the inner left side of the footrim (age cracks)
4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) diam., box

Lot Essay

Compare the smaller box inscribed with a Xuande four-character mark from the Carl Kempe Collection, included in the exhibition, Chinesesische Lackarbeiten, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, 1988, Catalogue, no. 36, together with a similar Yongle-marked example.
A smaller unmarked version from the Percival David Collection was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition, 'The Arts of the Ming Dynasty', Catalogue, no. 230. Garner, Chinese Lacquer, fig. 32, illustrates a comparable 15th Century box carved with camellia from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

(US$22,000-26,000)

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