A very rare carved polychrome lacquer 'Knick-knack Peddler' box and cover. Jiajing mark and period. photo courtesy Sotheby's

the straight-sided domed cover finely carved through the cinnabar, yellow and green lacquer with a raised medallion of eight children surrounding a jovial and bearded peddler carrying a massive horn-like yoke on his back from which is strapped a pair of rattan arches, each balancing a large balustraded square basket filled with carved lacquer vases, food containers and tall rattan canes suspending strings of scarves, hats and combs, flanking a tall umbrella festooned with numerous pendants temptingly hung with puppets and chimes, the peddler holding a vase and receiving a coin from a child while another holds a newly purchased vase, on the other side a boy prancing with a string puppet whilst his companions beat time with cymbals and a mask, all set in a garden, against a yellow and green floret diaper pattern ascending to a wave-patterned middle ground and a keyfret 'air' patterned sky, the rounded shoulder carved with four striding dragons amidst clouds separated by Islands of Paradise, between narrow bands of floret diaper and wan-fret diaper just before a wide diamond and prunus border, together with a box with an incised and gilded six-character vertical mark of Jiajing to the base and carved with a matching design of dragons and floret diaper, the interior of box and cover lacquered a dark brown (2); diameter 13 7/8 in., 35.4 cm. Estimate 100,000—150,000 USD. Lot Sold 362,500 USD

PROVENANCE: Acquired in Europe in the 19th century.
Thereafter in the family by descent.

NOTE: The subject of the Knick-knack Peddler is a well known subject in Chinese painting, notably the painting by Li Song dated 1210 (Fig. 1), illustrated in Possessing the Past. Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, cat. no. 84, to whom at least four versions are attributed and which was copied and re-interpreted by many later artists. James Cahill notes that in the painting, Li Song has written 'not only his signature and the date but also three tiny characters, nearly hidden on the tree trunk at the upper left, which translates as "five hundred articles", referring with well-justified pride to the number of individual objects he has managed to crowd into the two multilayered baskets that the peddler carries on a pole over his shoulders,' ibid, p. 179.

This charming motif would seem to be the ultimate challenge to the artist's skill at composition and requiring virtuose technical skills, and is extremely rare on carved lacquer. A lacquer box and cover of exactly the same size, bearing an incised Jiajing mark and of the period, the cover exquisitely carved with this motif, but differing in composition, with similar borders of diaper and dragons, was sold in our London rooms, 7th June 2000, lot 51. It was later paired with another box of this subject and exhibited in Oriental Arts UK, New York, 2002, cat. no. 22. The current box shares with the latter a similarity of 'inventory' such as brocade balls, combs, stacked food boxes and tasseled pendants, as well as the striped socks worn by the peddler and the characteristic large heads of the boys. The umbrella in the present piece with its tasseled pendant emblems is also an interesting departure from the other interpretations of this motif but is typical of the pendants decorating blue and white porcelain of the period.

Only one lacquer piece of Jiajing mark and period and carved with this motif is recorded, a dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ching Dynasties, Vol 45, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 129.

Another dish was in the exhibition catalogue, 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 57, where it is noted that the four five-clawed dragons have had a claw each removed, similar to the dragons on the cover of the current piece.

Sotheby's. Fine Ceramics and works of Art. 15 Sept 2010. New York www.sothebys.com