A carved cinnabar lacquer incense stand - Ming Dynasty

The top of rectangular outline with bracket-foliated sides decorated with a central panel enclosing the 'seven sages of the bamboo grove' and their attendants relaxing in a landscape of bamboo, pines and rocks, against a ground of diamond diaper enclosing florettes, the diaper pattern repeated on the pierced waist, raising above the similarly-shaped spreading apron carved with a dense design of various blossoms and leaves, repeated on the cabriole legs and the sides of the attached base of conforming outline, the base centered with a barb-edged roundel of a long-tailed bird on flowering branches, reserved on a ground of diamond diaper enclosing florettes, bordered with a band stylised confronting chilong, the bottom of the base and underside of the stand coated with brown lacquer.
44.5cm (17½in) high. Estimate: HK$250,000 - 300,000, $32,000 - 39,000 - Non adjugé.

Exhibited: Zheng He and the Oceanic Culture: An Exhibition of the Six Hundredth Anniversary of Zheng He's Voyages, The National Museum of History, Taiwan, September 16 - October 23, 2006.
Scholarly Delights: An Exhibition of Carved and Painted Lacquer Ware, The National Museum of History, Taiwan, April 2007.

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