A RARE CARVED MING CINNABAR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER

MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE CARVED MING CINNABAR LACQUER CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
Deeply carved through layers of black, red, green and yellow lacquer, the flattened top of the cover with a central red gardenia blossom surrounded by buds and leaves continuing down the sides and repeated on the frieze encircling the box, the interiors and base lacquered black, with the maker's mark, Zhang Cheng zao lightly incised on the base
4 3/8 in. (11 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box

Provenance

A Japanese private collection

Brought to you by

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Lot Essay

The present box belongs to a distinctive group of incense boxes and covers carved through deep layers of multi-coloured lacquer in the tixi style but with the flattened upper surfaces rather than the more usual rounded three-dimensional relief-decorated designs found in the 15th century. Other related examples, similarly inscribed and carved with various stylised flowers in the Tokugawa Art Museum are illustrated in Karamono, Imported Lacquerwork - Chinese, Korean and Ryukyuan (Okinawa), Nagoya, Japan, 1997, pp. 44-45, nos. 63-65.

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