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Lot Essay
The technique of using mother-of-pearl as decoration on lacquerwares appears as early as the Shang dynasty. From its earlier stylised form, the designs became more detailed by the Yuan period, with the shell carvings being used to render detailed images inspired by either paintings, popular dramas or themes from woodblock prints.
One of the earliest written references to mother-of-pearl lacquer is recorded by Cao Zhao in Ge Gu Yao Lun, 'The Essential Criteria of Antiquities', of 1387. This original work and an enlarged edition dated to 1462 were combined together and translated by Sir Percival David. The Ge gu yao lun mentions benches, tables and chairs inlaid with mother-of-pearl that belonged to Shen Wansan, a rich Suzhou landowner during the Hongwu (1368-1398) period.
The present lot appears to be based on earlier furniture prototypes from the Ming period, which were inlaid with mother-of-pearl, jade, quartz, lapis lazuli, agate, turquoise, coral, ivory and colored glass. The decoration on these pieces was very free, and included floral compositions, figures and landscapes (particularly on table tops and cupboard doors). A similar recessed-leg table decorated with floral sprays and dated to the Kangxi period is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 169, no. 143. An example of a large yokeback armchair decorated with a floral arrangement in an archaistic vase, formerly in the C.T. Loo Collection, Paris, and dated to the late Ming period (late 16th/early 17th century), is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, Tokyo and New York, 1979, p. 116, fig. 158. See, also, ibid., p. 117, fig. 159, a mother-of-pearl inlaid square table decorated with gnarled rocks, peonies and flowering branches, dated to the late 15th-16th century, in the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris.
One of the earliest written references to mother-of-pearl lacquer is recorded by Cao Zhao in Ge Gu Yao Lun, 'The Essential Criteria of Antiquities', of 1387. This original work and an enlarged edition dated to 1462 were combined together and translated by Sir Percival David. The Ge gu yao lun mentions benches, tables and chairs inlaid with mother-of-pearl that belonged to Shen Wansan, a rich Suzhou landowner during the Hongwu (1368-1398) period.
The present lot appears to be based on earlier furniture prototypes from the Ming period, which were inlaid with mother-of-pearl, jade, quartz, lapis lazuli, agate, turquoise, coral, ivory and colored glass. The decoration on these pieces was very free, and included floral compositions, figures and landscapes (particularly on table tops and cupboard doors). A similar recessed-leg table decorated with floral sprays and dated to the Kangxi period is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, p. 169, no. 143. An example of a large yokeback armchair decorated with a floral arrangement in an archaistic vase, formerly in the C.T. Loo Collection, Paris, and dated to the late Ming period (late 16th/early 17th century), is illustrated by M. Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, Tokyo and New York, 1979, p. 116, fig. 158. See, also, ibid., p. 117, fig. 159, a mother-of-pearl inlaid square table decorated with gnarled rocks, peonies and flowering branches, dated to the late 15th-16th century, in the collection of the Musée Guimet, Paris.