Lot Essay
Five-lobed dishes are very rare. A six-lobed cinnebar lacquer dish dated to the Yuan dynasty carved with a landscape scene on the interior and classic scrolls on the exterior, included in the OCS exhibition, 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Hong Kong, and is illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 36. The classic scroll motif is probably taken from decorative minor bands found on blue and white ceramics: see H. Garner, Guri Lacquer of the Ming Dynasty, T.O.C.S., 1957-59, vol. 30, pl. 24 for six variations of the classic scroll on ceramics.
Compare to two examples of circular dishes both carved with a floral pattern on the interior medallion and classic scrolls on the exterior: the first, a smaller dish (16.5 cm. diam.) dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, carved with a gardenia spray and bearing the name of the master craftsman, Zhang Cheng, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Lacquer, pl. 40. The second example, is a black and brown lacquered square dish dated to the late Yuan period, carved with two birds and camellias at the centre, from the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated in East Asian Lacquer, no. 19.
(US$15,000-19,000)
Compare to two examples of circular dishes both carved with a floral pattern on the interior medallion and classic scrolls on the exterior: the first, a smaller dish (16.5 cm. diam.) dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Palace Museum, Beijing, carved with a gardenia spray and bearing the name of the master craftsman, Zhang Cheng, is illustrated in Ancient Chinese Lacquer, pl. 40. The second example, is a black and brown lacquered square dish dated to the late Yuan period, carved with two birds and camellias at the centre, from the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is illustrated in East Asian Lacquer, no. 19.
(US$15,000-19,000)