MING DYNASTY, EARLY 16TH CENTURY

细节

**A VERY RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID GILT-DECORATED BLACK LACQUER EWER
Ming dynasty, early 16th century
Of square section, each facet of the lower body decorated with an ogival panel enclosing lotus and chrysanthemum scrolls arranged in three rows and reserved on a diaper ground, below four registers of further diaper on the waisted neck, the tall slender spout decorated at its base with a taotie mask and the sides with delicate foliate scroll repeated on the S-curved strut and the slender curved handle surmounted by a small loop, all in gilt-decorated black lacquer inlaid in mother of pearl on a thin metal body
9¾in. (24.8cm.) high, box

来源

Christie's, London, 12 December 1988, lot 190.

注意事项

Notice Regarding the Sale of Material from Endangered Species. Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country

拍品专文

This richly decorated vessel is a rare example of a ewer covered with lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Although the inlay of fairly large pieces of shell and bone has been found on remains of items dating to the Shang dynasty, and mother-of-pearl was inlaid into Tang dynasty lacquered wares to great effect, the use of tiny multi-colored pieces of mother-of-pearl to create complex designs does not appear to have become a prominent feature of Chinese lacquer until the Yuan dynasty. Most of the items decorated in this technique are boxes, trays or furniture, and vertical forms decorated using this technique are rare.

A mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer ewer of square section with C-shaped handle is in the collection of the Chinese History Museum, Beijing. See Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan; Jin yin yu shi juan, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 195, no. 113. A red lacquer ewer of very similar form to the current example, but of hexagonal section and decorated with carved scrolling designs, in the collection of the Lee Family was included in the exhibition, Drache und Phoenix: Lackarbeiten aus China; Sammlung der Familie Lee, Köln, 1990, Tokyo, pp. 54-5, no. 13. The Lee ewer bears a Jiajing mark and has been catalogued as of the period.
The variegated floral scroll in the ogival panels on the body of the current ewer are similar in style to those on a 16th century octagonal mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer tray in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, formerly in the collection of Sir John Figgess and then in the collection of Sir Harry Garner, illustrated in Chinese and Associated Lacquer from the Garner Collection, British Museum, 1973, pl. 52b, no. 126. This tray also has the same precisely executed cash pattern providing a background for the cartouches on its rim, as that seen on the current ewer. This version of the cash pattern also appears on a round mother-of-pearl inlaid box in the Victoria and Albert Museum dated by inscription to AD 1537, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London/Boston, 1979, pls. 167 and 168.