AN EXTREMELY RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID BROWN LACQUER STAND

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AN EXTREMELY RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID BROWN LACQUER STAND
YUAN EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH 15TH CENTURY

The lobed hexafoil top finely inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl with an aquatic scene depicting a pair of courting mandarin ducks with intricately detailed plumage among budding and blossoming lotus reeds, with fish, crabs and crustaceans swimming at their feet, all below pairs of butterflies, birds and dragonflies beside overhanging fruiting pomegranate and willow branches, the shaped and pierced apron, curved scrolling legs and top of the apron decorated with full chrysanthemum blooms borne on slender leafy scrolling stems, within further bands of cranes in flight, geometric diaper patterns and scrolling vines to around the apron and base
16½ in. (42 cm.) across, Japanese wood box

Lot Essay

A pair of equally elaborate phoenix in a similar composition but reserved against a lotus scroll ground and dated to the Jiajing period, illustrated in Laquerwares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 164, no. 123

It is extremely rare to find a mother-of-pearly inlaid lacquer decorated with birds from this early period; the majority of extent pieces are decorated with figures in landscapes (narratives of popular stories or plays, or historical figures), or elegant floral branches or detached sprigs.

Compare with the equally elaborate birds, this time cranes or egrets in flight above a lotus pond on a oval container dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Laquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 20, no. 13

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