A VERY RARE PAIR OF CARVED RED LACQUER RECTANGULAR STACKING BOXES AND COVERS

MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A VERY RARE PAIR OF CARVED RED LACQUER RECTANGULAR STACKING BOXES AND COVERS
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
Each of rectangular form with two tiers, deeply carved all over with a dense network of leafy, fruiting lychee branches reserved on a finely carved diaper ground
8½ in. (21.6 cm.) long, box (2)

Provenance

Edward T. Chow Collection.
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., 16 March 1986.

Literature

Emperor, Scholar, Artisan, Monk: The Creative Personality in Chinese Works of Art, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., 1984, pp. 254-55, no. 114.

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Lot Essay

The fruiting lychee branch motif, carved against a ground of various diapers, appears on several red lacquer boxes and covers dating to the 16th century, including a pair of circular boxes in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 128, pl. 64. The motif appears more frequently on circular boxes. The present tiered boxes are extremely unusual and rare, and there do not appear to be any similar published examples.

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