Lot Essay
Floral designs on early Ming lacquer boxes represent some of the finest decorations found in Chinese decorative arts. The closest comparable box to the present splendid lot appears to be the example entirely carved with budding and flowering peony around a large full-blown bloom, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware, col. pl.3. A related box, incised with a Yongle mark on the right hand side of the base but otherwise very similar in composition and carving style, is dated to the Hongwu period, when it was exhibited in Hong Kong at the Chinese University, 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, 1993, Catalogue, no.39.
The slightly shallower proportion and depth of carving is well illustrated by comparing it with the similar floral box in the Taibei Collections, ibid., col.pl.7. See also the 22.1cm. box, incised with a Xuande mark but dated to the Yongle period, in the Linden Museum, Chinesische Lackarbeiten, no.31; the decoration on top is formed as three large full-blown and one smaller profile peony, which is a less dramatic composition than the present one. The style of floral decoration also includes camellia: cf. the Yongle reign-marked box previously in the Garner Collection, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Sir H. Garner, pl.32; also see M. Feddersen, Chinese Decorative Art, fig.190; the example from the Nezu Art Museum, exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum, Exhibition of Oriental Lacquer Arts, 1977, Catalogue, no.506; and the smaller one also in Taipei, exhibited in 1981, Special Exhibition of Palace Lacquer Objects, Catalogue, no.8. Related examples of different sizes include the peony-carved box illustrated by J. Wirgin, Some Chinese Carved Lacquer of the Yuan and Ming Periods, B.M.F.E.A., Stockholm, vol.44, 1972, pl.11; and another one in the Royal Scottish Museum, published by J. Scarce, Yuan and Ming Lacquers in the Royal Scottish Museum Edinburgh, Percival David Foundation, Catalogue, Colloquies on Art and Archeology in Asia, no.11, pl.2A. See also the related large dish boldly carved with hibiscus flowers and characteristic leaves, in the National Museum of Denmark, illustrated by Sir H. Garner, op. cit., pl.34; and the dish of very similar decoration to the present lot illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Ancient Chinese Lacquerware, no.123, from the Palace Museum, Beijing
The style of large full-blown flower-heads on a ground of dense leafy foliage carved through to a dark oatmeal or pale yellow ground, was closely copied during the Xuande period, and indeed on some occasions incised Yongle marks were over-carved and largely effaced by Xuande ones, suggesting that the change of Emperor did not greatly affect the laborious process of creating these magnificent early Ming lacquers. It is also possible that unmarked Yongle ones were deliberately carved when the new reign began with Xuande marks to suggest they were completely new: see for example the large dish, superbly carved with a variety of flowers which bears a Xuande mark but may possibly date from a previous reign, illustrated by D. Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, col.pl.25
The slightly shallower proportion and depth of carving is well illustrated by comparing it with the similar floral box in the Taibei Collections, ibid., col.pl.7. See also the 22.1cm. box, incised with a Xuande mark but dated to the Yongle period, in the Linden Museum, Chinesische Lackarbeiten, no.31; the decoration on top is formed as three large full-blown and one smaller profile peony, which is a less dramatic composition than the present one. The style of floral decoration also includes camellia: cf. the Yongle reign-marked box previously in the Garner Collection, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Sir H. Garner, pl.32; also see M. Feddersen, Chinese Decorative Art, fig.190; the example from the Nezu Art Museum, exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum, Exhibition of Oriental Lacquer Arts, 1977, Catalogue, no.506; and the smaller one also in Taipei, exhibited in 1981, Special Exhibition of Palace Lacquer Objects, Catalogue, no.8. Related examples of different sizes include the peony-carved box illustrated by J. Wirgin, Some Chinese Carved Lacquer of the Yuan and Ming Periods, B.M.F.E.A., Stockholm, vol.44, 1972, pl.11; and another one in the Royal Scottish Museum, published by J. Scarce, Yuan and Ming Lacquers in the Royal Scottish Museum Edinburgh, Percival David Foundation, Catalogue, Colloquies on Art and Archeology in Asia, no.11, pl.2A. See also the related large dish boldly carved with hibiscus flowers and characteristic leaves, in the National Museum of Denmark, illustrated by Sir H. Garner, op. cit., pl.34; and the dish of very similar decoration to the present lot illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Ancient Chinese Lacquerware, no.123, from the Palace Museum, Beijing
The style of large full-blown flower-heads on a ground of dense leafy foliage carved through to a dark oatmeal or pale yellow ground, was closely copied during the Xuande period, and indeed on some occasions incised Yongle marks were over-carved and largely effaced by Xuande ones, suggesting that the change of Emperor did not greatly affect the laborious process of creating these magnificent early Ming lacquers. It is also possible that unmarked Yongle ones were deliberately carved when the new reign began with Xuande marks to suggest they were completely new: see for example the large dish, superbly carved with a variety of flowers which bears a Xuande mark but may possibly date from a previous reign, illustrated by D. Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, col.pl.25