Lot 34. A small carved cinnabar lacquer 'Camellia' box and cover, Ming dynasty, early 15th century; diameter 4.2 cm., 1 5/8 in. Estimate 250,000 — 300,000 HKD. Lot sold 312,500 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

of circular form with gently rounded sides supported on a slightly recessed base and fitted with a domed cover, exquisitely carved overall through thick layers of red lacquer to the ochre ground below with a large camellia blossom wreathed in dense foliage, the interior and the base lacquered in black.

Provenance: Collection of Frederick Mayer.
Christie's London, 24th and 25th June 1974, lot 121.
Sotheby's London, 13th December 1977, lot 271.

Exhibited: 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer. Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 50.
Layered Beauty: The Baoyizhai Collection of Chinese Lacquer, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2010, cat. no. 41.

Note: Lacquer boxes of this small delicate size were generally used for keeping rouge or as incense box to hold aromatic pellets and pieces of scented wood. The attractive floral carving also suggests that it was probably made for a lady to be used in her chamber. Compare two closely related examples held in museum collections; one in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, illustrated in Imported Lacquerwork – Chinese, Korean and Ryukyuan (Okinawa), Tokyo, 1997, pl. 59; and one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in Masterpieces of Chinese Lacquer Ware, Taipei, 1971, pl. 18.

A small box belonging to this group of wares, from the Mayer collection, was sold at Christie’s London, 24th / 25th June 1974, lot 121, and again in our London rooms, 13th December 1977, lot 271; another was sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1992, lot 37; and a further example was sold in our New York rooms, 19th March 2007, lot 409.

Sotheby's. The Baoyizhai Collection of Chinese Lacquer, Part 1, Hong Kong | 08 Apr 2014