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Lot Essay
This exquisite box and cover is a great example of the meticulous craftsmanship and beautiful shapes and designs characteristic of Yuan and early Ming lacquer pieces. Impressive by its size, this foliated box is beautifully decorated on its cover with a sophisticated and naturalistic depiction of two opposing phoenixes in flight set amongst exquisite peonies, all rendered with exceptional quality.
The phoenix is regarded as the emperor of birds, with tradition indicating that all other birds flock to it when it takes flight. Celebrated as the most honorable of birds, the phoenix is believed to appear only in times of peace and prosperity. It embodies virtue, beauty, and the empress. The two phoenixes depicted on this box may also symbolize marital happiness. This design is also found on a Xuande period cloisonné basin in the Uldry collection, illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection by Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, London, 1989, pl. 19. The authors note that the birds are distinguished by the treatment of their long tail feathers, which helps to differentiate between the male and female. Additionally, the phoenix emblem was a commonly used design motif on the imperial blue and white porcelain produced at the Imperial kilns of Jingdezhen during the Xuande period. For an example of a Xuande marked brush washer featuring two phoenixes from the Qing court collection, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 1, pl. 129.
The phoenix is regarded as the emperor of birds, with tradition indicating that all other birds flock to it when it takes flight. Celebrated as the most honorable of birds, the phoenix is believed to appear only in times of peace and prosperity. It embodies virtue, beauty, and the empress. The two phoenixes depicted on this box may also symbolize marital happiness. This design is also found on a Xuande period cloisonné basin in the Uldry collection, illustrated in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection by Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, London, 1989, pl. 19. The authors note that the birds are distinguished by the treatment of their long tail feathers, which helps to differentiate between the male and female. Additionally, the phoenix emblem was a commonly used design motif on the imperial blue and white porcelain produced at the Imperial kilns of Jingdezhen during the Xuande period. For an example of a Xuande marked brush washer featuring two phoenixes from the Qing court collection, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 1, pl. 129.