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Lot Essay
The Japanese wood box is inscribed with two names, Kyogetsu-an and Shohu-an, which appear to be pseudonyms for tea ceremony masters during the Edo period (1603-1867).
The present dish belongs to an extremely rare group of dishes dating to the late Ming period predominantly decorated in brownish-yellow lacquer. All known examples from this group display the very highest standard of workmanship and for centuries have been held in extremely high regard among collectors of lacquer. Most extant examples of this group are either in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, or the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Three yellow and red lacquer pieces in the National Palace Museum Taipei were included in the exhibition, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, nos. 91, 97 and 100. These include a circular dish with a dragon and phoenix, a circular dish with a single dragon, and a rectangular tray with a pair of confronted dragons, respectively. Also in the exhibition is a red lacquer dish of very similar design to the present example, carved with one dragon in ascent, the other in descent, see no. 96. A nearly identical dish to no. 91 from the aforementioned exhibition is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 211, no. 168; and one very similar to no. 97 is in the Sir Harry and Lady Garner Collection, and included in the 1957 Oriental Ceramics Society Exhibition, Arts of the Ming Dynasty, pl. 264, and in the 1973 British Museum exhibition of Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, London, illustrated, pl. 32a, no. 73.
Yellow lacquer is also very highly prized in Japan, and a number of examples of similar design to the present dish were preserved in
private collections, including a dish with a single ascending dragon from the Kaisendo Museum Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 3572. Compare also to a similar three-coloured cinnabar lacquer box of Wanli period from the collection of Sakamoto Goro, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2013, lot 160, and a yellow lacquer rectangular tray with similar decoration from the Kenzo Hasegawa Collection, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16-17 September 2014, lot 548.
The present dish belongs to an extremely rare group of dishes dating to the late Ming period predominantly decorated in brownish-yellow lacquer. All known examples from this group display the very highest standard of workmanship and for centuries have been held in extremely high regard among collectors of lacquer. Most extant examples of this group are either in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, or the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Three yellow and red lacquer pieces in the National Palace Museum Taipei were included in the exhibition, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, nos. 91, 97 and 100. These include a circular dish with a dragon and phoenix, a circular dish with a single dragon, and a rectangular tray with a pair of confronted dragons, respectively. Also in the exhibition is a red lacquer dish of very similar design to the present example, carved with one dragon in ascent, the other in descent, see no. 96. A nearly identical dish to no. 91 from the aforementioned exhibition is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 211, no. 168; and one very similar to no. 97 is in the Sir Harry and Lady Garner Collection, and included in the 1957 Oriental Ceramics Society Exhibition, Arts of the Ming Dynasty, pl. 264, and in the 1973 British Museum exhibition of Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, London, illustrated, pl. 32a, no. 73.
Yellow lacquer is also very highly prized in Japan, and a number of examples of similar design to the present dish were preserved in
private collections, including a dish with a single ascending dragon from the Kaisendo Museum Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 3572. Compare also to a similar three-coloured cinnabar lacquer box of Wanli period from the collection of Sakamoto Goro, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2013, lot 160, and a yellow lacquer rectangular tray with similar decoration from the Kenzo Hasegawa Collection, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16-17 September 2014, lot 548.