A finely carved cinnabar lacquer 'peony' box and cover, Mark and period of Yongle | 明永樂 剔紅纏枝牡丹圓蓋盒 《大明永樂年製》款

Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th April 2001, lot 644.

香港佳士得2001年4月30日，編號644

This superbly carved box is characteristic of the fine specimens of early Yongle lacquer before their production was standardised under increased government control. The top of the box is masterfully carved through the thickly built-up layers of lacquer with three large blooms of peony and three small budding flowers, all rendered naturalistically with overlapping petals. Together with the dense palmatifid foliage, with some leaves slightly curled at the tips, the scene successfully conveys a sense of three-dimensionality. 

Lee King-tsi and Hu Shih-chang studied the list of 58 carved lacquer pieces from the Yongle Emperor to the Ashikaga Shogun in the first year of the Yongle period (1403). Given the complexity and yearlong timeframes involved in the lacquer production process, they concluded that many of the Yongle-marked superlative pieces must be of Hongwu date as gifts of such quality could not have been completed within months (‘Carved Lacquer of the Hongwu Period’ and ‘Further Observations on Carved Lacquer of the Hongwu Period’, Oriental Art, vol. XLVII, no. 1, 2001, pp. 10-20, and vol. LV, no. 3, 2005-6, pp. 41-47, both reprinted in Layered Beauty. The Baoyizhai Collection of Chinese Lacquer, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2010, pp. 171-190). Lee and Hu deduced that Hongwu period floral lacquerwares tended to be adorned with flowers of the Four Seasons and were later inscribed with a Yongle mark on the right-hand side of the base. On actual Yongle pieces, such as the present box, the main motif consists of a single flower species, and the reign mark appears on the left.

Considering the slightly capricious, vigorous carving style, the present box is likely to have been made early in the Yongle reign. The harmoniously balanced arrangement of the blooms displays artistic freedom that contrasts sharply with the rigidness of items from a slightly later date. By comparison, a comparatively larger area of the ochre-yellow ground is revealed, and the margin of the main decoration is less clearly defined, with the edges of the petals and leaves occasionally touching the rim border.

Three larger Yongle-marked boxes show the three-peony design in similar layouts: one in the collection of the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, and exhibited in Chōshitsu / Carved Lacquer, The Tokugawa Art Museum and Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Nagoya and Tokyo, 1984, cat. no. 87; another, formerly in the collection of Avery Brundage and now in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, accession no. B60M309.a-.b; and a third from the Qing Court collection in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, cat. no. 11, together with a Xuande-marked box of a more structured composition of peonies, cat. no. 12.

盒作蔗段式，子母口，通體黃漆素地雕朱漆纏枝牡丹紋，盒蓋面雕三朵綻放牡丹，嬌美欲滴。蓋盒漆曾厚重，花葉佈局錯落有致，層次鮮明，花葉團簇，舒展自如。渾厚的漆層上所雕刻的紋飾飽滿而寫實，將牡丹盛開之姿以立體手法淋漓盡致的展現而出。

根據知名漆器學者及收藏家李經澤和胡世昌的研究，通過列舉並對比58件永樂帝贈予足利幕府的雕漆作品，推論此類雕刻風格帶有永樂年款的漆作或創製於洪武年間，見〈Ming and Pre-Ming Lacquer in the Japanese Tea Ceremony〉，《Oriental Art》，卷46，編號1，2001年，頁10-20，及卷55，編號3，2005-6年，頁41-47，並重刊於《疊彩：抱一齋藏中國漆器》，香港中文大學文物館，2010年，頁171-190。李經澤、胡世昌二人通過對比洪武、永樂雕漆風格，認為洪武漆器常雕四時花卉，而永樂器則多僅飾一類，又指洪武年製之品，右沿後刻永樂年款，有別於此盒之左方年款。

細觀此蓋盒所雕刻花卉式樣及風格，可斷定其為永樂本朝之作。其蓋上花姿靈動若舞，從含蕾待放，至嬌然盛綻，盡蘊其中。其漆面晶瑩光澤，用刀穩重，著實，厚潤，具有明代早起剔紅「隱起圓滑，藏鋒清晰」的典型特徵。牡丹花葉紅艷，配以黃漆素地，與紋飾輪廓形成鮮明對比，尤為合宜。

參看公私博物館傳世三例類似但尺寸稍大的永樂款剔紅纏枝牡丹圓蓋盒：一件入藏於東京根津美術館，見 《彫漆》，德川美術館及根津美術館，名古屋及東京，1984年，編號87；第二例為布倫戴奇舊藏，現入藏於三藩市亞洲藝術博物館，編號B60M309.a-.b；第三例位於台北故宮博物院，見《和光剔彩：故宮藏漆》，台北，2008年，編號11，同著錄中亦有刻宣德年款一例，對比此盒其牡丹紋則更顯生硬。