A mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer cabinet, Ming dynasty, 16th / 17th century | 明十六 / 十七世紀 褐漆嵌螺鈿攜琴訪友圖格櫃
Auction Closed
September 22, 04:06 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer cabinet
Ming dynasty, 16th / 17th century
明十六 / 十七世紀 褐漆嵌螺鈿攜琴訪友圖格櫃
of rectangular form, the slender, rounded corner posts framing a pair of doors surmounted by a display shelf, the dark brown lacquer intricately inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl, the front doors depicting a continuous scene of a scholar standing on the steps of an elegant pavilion facing an attendant in the garden, both awaiting another scholar crossing over a bridge followed by an attendant carrying a fabric-wrapped qin, a willow tree dangling its long branches over the bridge, all below two recessed quatrefoils at the tops of the doors each enclosing a pheasant in flight reserved against a diaper ground, the sides and top of the cabinet each with delicately curling foliate motifs, the edges of each panel framed by varying foliate and diaper borders, all raised on a stepped base with a shaped apron, the interior with a single shelf
Height 24⅞ in., 63.2 cm: Width 18 in., 45.7 cm; Depth 13 in., 33 cm
During the Ming dynasty, mother-of-pearl-inlaid lacquer, with its luminous tones of silvery-white with pale pink and green iridescent tones, was a favorite decorative technique in the production of large and small-scale furnishings. Artisans of the period drew upon precedents by Song and Yuan dynasty craftsmen, and developed the medium further by enhancing the intricacy and complexity of the images rendered. Scholarly themes, such as that the present cabinet, were often derived from Wanli period (1572-1620) woodblock prints. The relationship between woodblock prints and inlaid lacquer can also be seen in the shared stylistic features of the figural representation and the foliate and geometric motifs (see James C. Y. Watt and Barbara Brennan Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, pp. 135-8).
Another significant contribution to the technique came via contact with the Ryukyu Islands, a chain of islands extending from Kyushu to Taiwan. The first Ming emperor, Hongwu (r. 1368-1398), sent emissaries to the islands in the 14th century, and they, in turn, sent lacquer tributes to the Ming court, initiating a prolonged and fruitful period of artistic exchange and production of exquisitely inlaid lacquers. Compare two larger display cabinets from the 16th/17th century illustrated in Ryukyuan Lacquerware from the Urasoe Art Museum Collection, Urasoe Art Museum, Urasoe, 1995, pls 62 and 63, and another example of larger dimensions that sold in these rooms, 18th September 2007, lot 56.
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