A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUER DISH

MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUER DISH
MING DYNASTY, 16TH CENTURY
The dish of quatrefoil form elaborately inlaid in the recessed center panel with mother-of-pearl with a luohan seated beneath a pine tree upon a large rock and dressed in open robes tied at the waist, his right hand raised holding a ring which he uses to beckon a tiger gazing back at him from across a narrow stream, framed by four shaped cartouches containing lotus scroll reserved on a diaper ground, the whole raised on a short foot of conforming shape inlaid with diaper pattern
8 3/8 in. (21.2 cm.) square, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Japanese private collection.

Lot Essay

The style of the inlay on this tray is similar to that seen on a square tray decorated with a different pictorial scene illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Mother-of-Pearl Inlay in Chinese Lacquer Art, 19 June - 29 July 1979, Tokyo National Museum, no. 35, as well as on nos. 37 and 38, which are of petal-lobed outline. All are dated 15th-16th century. As with the present dish, the scenes may be taken from woodblock prints of the Wanli period (1573-1619).

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