AN IMPORTANT AND FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL LACQUER 'DRAGON' BOX AND COVER INCISED MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGLE BENEATH A CARVED XUANDE MARK

THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. CLIENTS WHO WISH TO BID ON PREMIUM LOTS MAY BE REQUESTED BY SOTHEBY'S TO COMPLETE THE PRE-REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORM AND TO DELIVER TO SOTHEBY'S A DEPOSIT OF HK$1,000,000, OR SUCH OTHER HIGHER AMOUNT AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY SOTHEBY'S, AND ANY FINANCIAL REFERENCES, GUARANTEES AND/OR SUCH OTHER SECURITY AS SOTHEBY'S MAY REQUIRE IN ITS ABSOLUTE DISCRETION AS SECURITY FOR THEIR BID. THE BIDnow ONLINE BIDDING SERVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR PREMIUM LOTS.



of large circular shape, the flat top surface deftly carved and incised in various depths of relief through the rich red cinnabar to the ochre ground beneath with a leaping five-clawed dragon, its grinning face framed with long shaggy hair and a pair of long horns while his eyes detailed irises with black lacquer and long eyebrows stare upwards above his outstretched claw reaching towards a 'flaming-pearl', his writhing scaly body twisting and turning amidst a dense scroll of plump ruyi-like clouds, his claws finely incised with detailing of knuckles and hairs clenched beyond his powerful kicking limbs, the straight sides encircled by bands of matching cloud scroll, the interior and base lacquered in a brownish-black, the latter with a carved gilt six-character Xuande mark in a vertical line over an original incised six-character mark of Yongle on the left-hand side of the base

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th October 2001, lot 665.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 31st October 2004, lot 16.

Sotheby's Thirty Years in Hong Kong: 1973-2003, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 402.

The box and cover are in extremely good condition with respect to their age and type and the lacquer is particularly brilliant and rich after having been professionally cleaned, bringing back its original lustre. There are two small shallow chips to the edge of the cover, one 0.5 cm. by 0.5 cm., the other 0.5 cm. by 0.2 cm., and one to the exterior of the rim, 0.5 cm. by 0.4 cm. There is a flake to the black lacquer on the underside of the cover along the inner edge of the rim, 1.5 cm. by 0.5 cm. which has been retouched. The inner edge of the footrim of the box displays a small shallow chip to the lacquer, 0.6 cm by 0.3 cm. Otherwise, there is no apparent damage except for some characteristic age-cracks to the lacquer, and the box is comparatively in much better condition than the similar boxes in various museum collections. The colour of the box is similar to the photographs within the catalogue.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Yongle lacquerwares carved with the imperial five-clawed dragon are among the finest pieces ever executed in this medium. In lacquer production - like in porcelain manufacture - it is in the Yongle reign that the craftsmanship of the artisans developed to the outstanding precision and graceful harmony that are the characteristics of manufacture for imperial use. The high level of quality achieved and the dauntingly laborious production process of this deeply carved lacquerware are probably the reasons why certain pieces of Yongle lacquer - such as this box - were re-attributed in the Xuande period by superimposing a Xuande reign mark over the original Yongle mark.

Boxes of this most classic Yongle design are very rare, generally of smaller size and virtually all in Museum collections. One box in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, of almost identical design and size (23.5 cm) (fig. 2) and similarly inscribed with a Xuande mark, was included in the Museum's exhibition Gugong qiqi tezhan, Taipei, 1981, cat. no.17. Four others, ranging from 21.4 cm to 17 cm, respectively, are recorded: two in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Gugong Bowuyuan cang diao qi, Beijing, 1985, pls. 52 and 79, one of them again on the cover of Zhou Cheng, Wenwu zhenbao, vol. 9: Ancient Chinese Lacquer, Taipei, 1994 (and pl. 73); another in the Lindenmuseum, Stuttgart, in Klaus J. Brandt, Chinesische Lackarbeiten, Stuttgart, 1988, pl. 32, from the collection of Fritz Low-Beer; and the fourth in the exhibition catalogue Oriental Lacquer Arts, Tokyo National Museum, 1977, cat. no. 514 (fig. 3).

Of one larger box, decorated with a similar dragon among clouds above waves, only the circular top of the lid is remaining; see R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art: The Minor Arts, London, 1963, col. pl. 132, from the Garner collection.

Related boxes are also known of much smaller size (14 cm) (fig. 4); see, for example, a piece in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Ancient Chinese Lacquerware, Beijing, 1987, pl. 54; and another in the Hong Kong Museum of Art from the collections of Walter Sedgwick and Frederick Knight, sold in our London rooms, 15th October 1968, lot 33, and again in these rooms, 18th May 1982, lot 45, and included in the exhibition 2,000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 45, where another example in the Tokyo National Museum is mentioned (p. 96).