Lot Essay
It is extremely rare to find polychrome lacquer wares with more than three colours. A tray of this unusual design is illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, 1985, pl. 175.
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Property from a Japanese Collection
AN UNUSUAL MING CARVED POLYCHROME LACQUER 'DRAGON' SQUARE TRAY
Details
AN UNUSUAL MING CARVED POLYCHROME LACQUER 'DRAGON' SQUARE TRAY
JIAJING PERIOD (1522-1566)
Deeply carved through layers of cinnabar-red, vermilion-orange, dark green, ochre and black lacquer, with a pair of sinuous five-clawed dragons leaping above turbulent waves crashing against pointed rocks, confronted on a stylised Shou roundel amidst flames and ruyi clouds, enclosed within a square border with canted corners echoing the shape of the tray, the cavetto with four evenly spaced cartouches of peony and chrysanthemum sprays, with four cranes at the corners, the exterior with similar shaped panels enclosing auspicious emblems and lingzhi scrolls, with Daoist trigrams at the corners, the base with black lacquer
8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) wide, box
JIAJING PERIOD (1522-1566)
Deeply carved through layers of cinnabar-red, vermilion-orange, dark green, ochre and black lacquer, with a pair of sinuous five-clawed dragons leaping above turbulent waves crashing against pointed rocks, confronted on a stylised Shou roundel amidst flames and ruyi clouds, enclosed within a square border with canted corners echoing the shape of the tray, the cavetto with four evenly spaced cartouches of peony and chrysanthemum sprays, with four cranes at the corners, the exterior with similar shaped panels enclosing auspicious emblems and lingzhi scrolls, with Daoist trigrams at the corners, the base with black lacquer
8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) wide, box