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Lot Essay
The name for this type of lacquer, tixi, literally means carved rhinoceros, and derives from the Chinese characters most commonly used for the term xipi used to describe marbled lacquer, which resembles the hide of a rhinoceros. However, although both lacquer techniques involve the application of layers of lacquer in different colours, and their exposure for decorative purposes, the methods vary considerably. While the layers of differently coloured lacquer are applied to a deliberately uneven surface in xipi lacquer, they are applied to a well prepared smooth surface for tixi lacquer. While the different colours are revealed by rubbing down the surface of xipi lacquer, they are revealed by carving designs in wide U-shaped or V-shaped lines on tixi lacquers.
This type of tixi lacquer is often referred by the Japanese name guri lacquer. The reference is to the most common designs on these wares, which are scrolling patterns. The word guri refers to pommel scroll, which these designs are thought to resemble. The Chinese equivalent Chinese term is jianhuan or sword [pommel] scroll, but these lacquers are most often referred to in Chinese by the term tixi. In English the term guri was traditionally used, but Sir Harry Garner proposed the term 'carved marbled ware' instead. The most popular design, and the one seen on the current tray, is usually described as ruyi yun wen or ruyi cloud pattern. Although this dish bears a truncated version of the latter on its exterior, some other vessels bear a design known in Chinese as xiang cao or twisted grass, and in English as classic scroll.
While the technique of tixi lacquer can be traced at least as far back as the Tang dynasty, it rose to particular popularity in the Song and Yuan periods. The lacquers from these periods particularly prized and are known for the U-shaped profile of their designs, as can be seen on the current tray. There is a description of what a 14th century author regarded as the most valuable ancient wares in the AD1388 text, the Gegu yao lun, which includes the information: 'The bottom [of the incision] is like an inverted roof-tile, and [the wares] are lustrous, solid and thin' (see Sir Percival David, Chinese Connoisseurship - the Ko Ku Yao Lun - The Essential Criteria of Antiquities, London, 1971, p. 144).
A Yuan dynasty tray of similar size and decoration to the current example has been published by Hu Shih-chang in Chinese Lacquer, National Museums of Scotland Publishing, Edinburgh, 1998, p. 25, no. 5. The author refers to his research with Lee King-tsi published as 'On Chinese tixi Lacquer', Orientations, September, 1993, pp. 65-8, and notes that the 'spectacle-shaped' patterns on the upper surface have narrow nose bridges, while those on the underside are truncated, and there are irregular cracks in the black lacquer base. These features, shared by the current tray, are all features of Yuan dynasty lacquers. The two vessels also share a particular treatment of the centre of the design on the upper surface. There is a central boss surrounded by alternating mushroom-shaped petals and arrowhead patterns.
While the Edinburgh dish has three rows of ruyi designs, the current vessel has two, and this feature is shared by another similarly-sized dish in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (illustrated by James C.Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford in East Asian Lacquer - the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, p, 53, no. 8). However, the latter dish has black lacquer as its upper layer and a different design in the centre. On both the New York dish and the current example, it is possible in some areas to see the fabric which covers the wooden core of the vessel under the lacquer. Both the Edinburgh and New York dishes have been dated to the 14th century. However another, slightly smaller red tixi dish with ruyi pattern was recently exhibited in Japan and dated to the Southern Song dynasty (see The Colors and Forms of Song and Yuan China - Featuring Lacquerwares, Ceramics, and Metalwares, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2004, no. 68).
This type of tixi lacquer is often referred by the Japanese name guri lacquer. The reference is to the most common designs on these wares, which are scrolling patterns. The word guri refers to pommel scroll, which these designs are thought to resemble. The Chinese equivalent Chinese term is jianhuan or sword [pommel] scroll, but these lacquers are most often referred to in Chinese by the term tixi. In English the term guri was traditionally used, but Sir Harry Garner proposed the term 'carved marbled ware' instead. The most popular design, and the one seen on the current tray, is usually described as ruyi yun wen or ruyi cloud pattern. Although this dish bears a truncated version of the latter on its exterior, some other vessels bear a design known in Chinese as xiang cao or twisted grass, and in English as classic scroll.
While the technique of tixi lacquer can be traced at least as far back as the Tang dynasty, it rose to particular popularity in the Song and Yuan periods. The lacquers from these periods particularly prized and are known for the U-shaped profile of their designs, as can be seen on the current tray. There is a description of what a 14th century author regarded as the most valuable ancient wares in the AD1388 text, the Gegu yao lun, which includes the information: 'The bottom [of the incision] is like an inverted roof-tile, and [the wares] are lustrous, solid and thin' (see Sir Percival David, Chinese Connoisseurship - the Ko Ku Yao Lun - The Essential Criteria of Antiquities, London, 1971, p. 144).
A Yuan dynasty tray of similar size and decoration to the current example has been published by Hu Shih-chang in Chinese Lacquer, National Museums of Scotland Publishing, Edinburgh, 1998, p. 25, no. 5. The author refers to his research with Lee King-tsi published as 'On Chinese tixi Lacquer', Orientations, September, 1993, pp. 65-8, and notes that the 'spectacle-shaped' patterns on the upper surface have narrow nose bridges, while those on the underside are truncated, and there are irregular cracks in the black lacquer base. These features, shared by the current tray, are all features of Yuan dynasty lacquers. The two vessels also share a particular treatment of the centre of the design on the upper surface. There is a central boss surrounded by alternating mushroom-shaped petals and arrowhead patterns.
While the Edinburgh dish has three rows of ruyi designs, the current vessel has two, and this feature is shared by another similarly-sized dish in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (illustrated by James C.Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford in East Asian Lacquer - the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, p, 53, no. 8). However, the latter dish has black lacquer as its upper layer and a different design in the centre. On both the New York dish and the current example, it is possible in some areas to see the fabric which covers the wooden core of the vessel under the lacquer. Both the Edinburgh and New York dishes have been dated to the 14th century. However another, slightly smaller red tixi dish with ruyi pattern was recently exhibited in Japan and dated to the Southern Song dynasty (see The Colors and Forms of Song and Yuan China - Featuring Lacquerwares, Ceramics, and Metalwares, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2004, no. 68).