A RARE LARGE LACQUER FAN-SHAPED BOX AND COVER

YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER GILT-FILLED INCISED MARK IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

细节

A RARE LARGE LACQUER FAN-SHAPED BOX AND COVER
Yongzheng six-character gilt-filled incised mark in a line and of the period (1723-1735)
The deep cover decorated in qiangjin and tianqi technique with a central peony sprig flanked by sinuous long-tailed phoenixes, surrounded by large single auspicious bats and pairs of smaller bats, amidst ruyi-form clouds, with large peony sprays at the corners, all in red, brown and green within gold-filled incised lines reserved on a golden-brown ground, the edges with a narrow band of key-fret design above similarly decorated sides, the box of plain black lacquer edged with similar key-fret design and on low flush feet, the base incised with the reign mark; raised on a painted and incised lacquered wood stand of conforming shape, with tall cabriole legs joined at the base by a fan-shaped stretcher, decorated with insects, butterflies and flower sprigs on a red ground
35½in. (90.2cm.) long, 16¼in. (41.2cm.) wide, 3 3/8in. (8.6cm.) deep; stand 21½in. (54.6cm.) high

拍品专文

Compare a fan-shaped box and cover, also on a stand with simple cross-stretcher and straight legs, shown in a detail from an anonymous 17th century album entitled Bai Mei Tu, vol. 2, no. 48, illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1990, vol. I, p. 32, fig. 2.7, identified as a 'stool of unusual form'. Wang Shixiang also identifies a parallelogram 'fan-shaped' table in vol. 36, no. 26 of the same album. This piece of furniture is more clearly a table, but may have the same style of lacquer decoration as the present lot. See, also, a fan-shaped box or stool with gilt and black lacquer decoration in the scene, Hua Zixu Lies Dying of Mortification and Chagrin, illustrated in The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jin ping mei), attributed to Gu Jianlong (1606-c. 1694), in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, illustrated by S. Handler, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Furniture, University of California Press, 2001, p. 150, fig. 10.10.

The techniques of qiangjin, incised lines filled with gold, and tianqi, or 'filled-in' colored lacquer, were often combined during the Ming dynasty, when they were especially popular. They continued to be used in the Qing, with many pieces bearing Qianlong marks. It is very rare to find a piece of this type of lacquer with a Yongzheng mark.
See a Kangxi period deep rectangular red lacquered box and cover with gilt dragon decoration, on a table stand of conforming shape, illustrated in Ming Qing jiaju; shang (Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties; part I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 53, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 238, no. 194.