Description
Lacquer box. Wood with vermilion lacquer and lacquer colors. Late Ming period, 17th century. Long rectangular form. The central scene on the lid depicts Li Yuan in an archery competition, where he manages to shoot the arrow right between the eyes of a phoenix depicted on a screen. Below this scene is a couple in a pavilion watching a group of children playing, while above the archery scene a scholar receives a visitor. Flowering branches and birds on the sides. Red lacquer inside. The entire box is covered with craquelure caused by the shrinkage of the wooden core. One larger and one smaller flaw in the lacquer on the lid. The subject of the archery competition is taken from the biographies of the empresses and imperial concubines (liezhuan houji), as listed in the "Annals of the Tang Dynasty" (Xi Tangshu, chapter 27), and enjoyed great popularity in 17th century lacquer art. The successful archer Li Yuan, who later became the Tang Emperor Gaozu, won the hand of Lady Dou by winning the archery competition. The motif can be found in the same painterly style and bright colors on a similar box in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in Werner Speiser, Lackkunst in Ostasien, Baden-Baden 1965, pp. 150-151), in the Piert-Borgers Collection (Patricia Frick, Chinesische Lackkunst. Eine deutsche Privatsammlung, Museum für Lackkunst Münster, 2010, pp. 68-69, no. 32) and on a large box in the Honolulu Academy of Arts (James C. Watt, The Sumptuous Basket, Chinese Lacquer with basketry panels, New York 1985, pp. 76-77, no. 25). Sir Harry Garner also mentions a box in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (A Group of Chinese Lacquers with Basketry panels, in: Archives of Asian Art, vol. 20 (1966-67), p. 23, footnote 6). The many lacquer colors are a special feature of the present box, which was probably used to store scrolls. The dominant color is white, which is used for the faces and details of the pavilions. The rocks are painted in green and blue, pink appears in the foliage of some of the trees. H 13.5 cm; W 22 cm; L 67.5 cm
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Lacquer box. Wood with vermilion lacquer and lacquer colors. Late Ming period, 17th century. Long rectangular form. The central scene on the lid depicts Li Yuan in an archery competition, where he manages to shoot the arrow right between the eyes of a phoenix depicted on a screen. Below this scene is a couple in a pavilion watching a group of children playing, while above the archery scene a scholar receives a visitor. Flowering branches and birds on the sides. Red lacquer inside. The entire box is covered with craquelure caused by the shrinkage of the wooden core. One larger and one smaller flaw in the lacquer on the lid. The subject of the archery competition is taken from the biographies of the empresses and imperial concubines (liezhuan houji), as listed in the "Annals of the Tang Dynasty" (Xi Tangshu, chapter 27), and enjoyed great popularity in 17th century lacquer art. The successful archer Li Yuan, who later became the Tang Emperor Gaozu, won the hand of Lady Dou by winning the archery competition. The motif can be found in the same painterly style and bright colors on a similar box in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in Werner Speiser, Lackkunst in Ostasien, Baden-Baden 1965, pp. 150-151), in the Piert-Borgers Collection (Patricia Frick, Chinesische Lackkunst. Eine deutsche Privatsammlung, Museum für Lackkunst Münster, 2010, pp. 68-69, no. 32) and on a large box in the Honolulu Academy of Arts (James C. Watt, The Sumptuous Basket, Chinese Lacquer with basketry panels, New York 1985, pp. 76-77, no. 25). Sir Harry Garner also mentions a box in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (A Group of Chinese Lacquers with Basketry panels, in: Archives of Asian Art, vol. 20 (1966-67), p. 23, footnote 6). The many lacquer colors are a special feature of the present box, which was probably used to store scrolls. The dominant color is white, which is used for the faces and details of the pavilions. The rocks are painted in green and blue, pink appears in the foliage of some of the trees. H 13.5 cm; W 22 cm; L 67.5 cm
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