Compare the present vessel with others similarly shaped with six-petal lobes. A Song brownish-red lacquered cupstand was excavated from a Northern Song tomb at Hanyang, Shilipu, Wuhan county, Hubei province, and is illustrated by M. Knight, 'So Fine a Luster: Chinese Lacquerwares', in China 5,000 Years - Innovation and Transformation in the Arts, H. Rogers (ed.), Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1998, p. 95, fig. 5. Another slightly smaller Song dynasty cupstand of similar shape is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by R. Kerr (ed.), Chinese Art and Design, London, 1991, p. 181 (shown supporting a stoneware tea bowl of the same period). The Museum's cupstand bears an inscription which gives a cyclical date equivalent to either A. D. 1034 or 1094, and states that it was made in the city known today as Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. Compare also the cupstand with metal bands on the mouth and foot rims, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, illustrated by the National Palace Museum, Taibei, Hai-wai Yi-chen - Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Lacquerware, 1987, no. 24. A black lacquered cupstand from the Yuan dynasty and with bracket-lobed rim, was sold in these Rooms, 30 April 2001, lot 628.