A GURI-LACQUER LOBED BOX AND COVER

the octagonally lobed body and cover carved through black and red layers to the top with a central floret encircled by sword pommel scrolls, the body similarly carved, all supported on a short foot ring

It is rare to find guri lacquer boxes of this elegant form, although a very similar example is illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1985, pl. 167. See also an octagonal guri box of related deep carving, in the Anhui Provincial Museum, included in Zhongguo qiqi quanji, vol. 5, Fuzhou, 1995, pl. 177; and a box of compressed spherical body, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Sir Harry Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 55, carved with similar repeated guri design and the five characters shou tianxia tai ping on the lid.

For a discussion and origins of the term guri see ibid., pp. 71-77, together with illustrations of three 14th century guri pieces, pls. 26-28.