A RARE INSCRIBED CINNABAR LACQUER TABLE SCREEN AND STAND GONGJI SEAL MARK, 17TH CENTURY

carved in low relief with two scholars playing weiqi beneath an overhanging tree in a garden, observed by another scholar, an attendant brewing tea in the foreground and a second attendant carrying peaches afar, the reverse inscribed with a Song poem and three seals reading meishou, gong and ji, supported on a matching stand

Lacquer designs of the Ming and early Qing periods were often inspired by literature or paintings, and the present screen incorporates an inscription and the corresponding scene, which was derived from Huanxisha – qingxing yuanlin zhu jiuxiang by the renowned Song poet, Yan Shu (c. 991-1055). A similarly carved lacquer screen, of larger size and attributed to the Hongzhi period (r. 1488-1505), decorated with a scene based on the Western Han tale Zouma zhangtai jie [Passing through Zhangtai Street on Horseback], from the Lee Family Collection and included in the exhibition Dragon and Phoenix. Chinese Lacquer Ware. The Lee Family Collection, Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne, 1990, cat. no. 51, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st December 2009, lot 1827.

According to the seals, the present screen is probably linked to the scholar Qin Jin (1652 - 1735), whose studio name is Gongji.