YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)

This dish is very unusual in various ways. Most notably the decoration is only comprised of one bird, whereas all other lacquer 'bird dishes' from this period have two birds, and are of larger sizes, such as a large black lacquer dish (33.5 cm.) also from the Lee Family Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1817; another one (32.5 cm.) was exhibited in The Nezu Institute of Fine Arts exhibition, The Colors and Forms of Song and Yuan China, Tokyo, 2004, Catalogue, no. 86. Furthermore the lotus petals on the reverse side of this dish are rarely seen on lacquer dishes of this type, with the xiangcao scrolls being more common. Lastly there is a single layer of red lacquer on the front but two layers of red on the back of the dish, making the current dish very rare among other lacquer wares.