Rare et important repose-coupe en laque rouge sculpté Marque et époque Yongle

de forme globulaire aux côtés arrondis se prolongeant vers le bord incurvé, reposant sur une coupe à sept lobes et un haut pied évasé, le pourtour profondément sculpté dans d'épaisses couches de laque d'un buissonnant feuillage dans lequel s'épanouissent six fleurs de camélia, grenade, pivoine, chrysanthème, hibiscus et gardénia, le même décor répété sur les deux faces de la coupe et autour du pied, l'intérieur et le pied laqués brun foncé, marque verticale à six caractères incisée à l'intérieur du bord du pied

There is ca. 4cm long and ca. 0.5cm wide area of loss to the lacquer and part of the wood core along the rim of the foot with an associated ca. 0.5 cm large shallow chip to the carved lacquer on the foot. The wood core of the foot, the textile, a thick area of black, a thin yellow line, red and black lines and the above thick red lacquer layers are exposed along the rim of the foot. Apart from this loss, the carved lacquer design, the everted tray and the cup are all in very good condition. There are cracks running though the lacquer design on the exterior of the foot, the inside and exterior of the tray and the exterior of the cup, several of them going extending into and going through the rim of the cup and visible on the inside and outside of the cup rim as well as the rim of the tray. The bowl stand is very heavy. The lacquer is thickly and finely carved and has not been cleaned. Underneath the dirt and dust, the ochre ground and the black guideline are visible. The inside of the foot and cup is lacquered black and the black lacquer surface is covered with a fine crackle. Under light, the black lacquer appears to show some areas of light brownish olive. There are some minor areas of loss to the black lacquer inside, below which a fine greyish surface is visible. There are minute traces of green paint along the rim of the cup.
"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."

The technique of carved lacquerware was not new in the Ming dynasty, but had been developed in the Southern Song (1127-1279). In the Yuan period (1279-1368) this branch of artistry experienced a first flowering but, like with porcelain, the Yuan style of lacquer carving is bold and vigorous, and still somewhat rough and angular. In the Ming dynasty, this form of decoration was transformed into a highly sophisticated art form, as the overall layout meticulously worked out beforehand, and the carving style developed towards softer and rounder reliefs that were not only pared with a knife but carefully smoothed down and polished.

The Yongle Emperor made China’s finest artefacts imperial and introduced a style of unprecedented elegance and sophistication. In order to make China’s works of art suitable ‘ambassadors’ of the Ming Empire, the court took over porcelain as well as lacquer workshops, carefully monitored their production, emphasized quality control in order to maximize quality, and created an unmistakable identity for the imperial products. Like porcelain, carved lacquer was manufactured for the court, and probably in the same way as porcelain, lacquer was produced according to well-defined specifications, its production process monitored by the court, secrecy strictly guarded by the court, and distribution organized by the court and assured through official channels.

The Yongle Emperor repeatedly made gifts of lacquer ware to the Japanese Shogun. An important Ming document recording gifts from the court of the Yongle Emperor to the Ashikaga Shogun of Japan lists 203 pieces of carved red lacquer sent by the Chinese court to the Japanese ruler between 1403 and 1407, with the most important gift of fifty-eight pieces occurring in the first year of the Yongle reign. The first list of gifts to Japan in 1403, which is detailed enough to make identification possible, includes ‘mallow-shaped bowl stands … carved … with flowers of the four seasons’, like lot 112, of which two examples were sent to the Shogun.

Since the laborious, time-consuming process of creating vessels with a lacquer layer thick enough to be carved can extend over years, it is considered impossible that the whole process could have been completed within the first year of the reign. It equally seems out of the question that such work could have been done in the unruly times of the short Jianwen period (1399-1402), particularly as the Emperor is known to have ordered all works that were not vital to be stopped. Pieces such as a companion bowl stand from the Baoyizhai collection, recently sold in our Hong Kong rooms, have therefore been attributed to the Hongwu period (1368-98).

Closely related seven-lobed bowl stands carved with seasonal flowers are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, inscribed with a Yongle reign mark published in Zhongguo qiqi quanji [Complete series on Chinese lacquer], Fuzhou, 1993-8, vol. 5, pl. 26; in the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, without reign mark, included in the exhibition Carved Lacquer, Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, and Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 1984, cat. no. 83; and one from the Baoyizhai collection, inscribed with a Xuande over a Yongle reign mark, included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 46, was sold in our London rooms, 13th December 1983, lot 56, and recently in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3210.