Lot 43. A carved cinnabar lacquer bowlstand, Ming dynasty, 16th century or earlier; diameter 16.8 cm., 6 5/8 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,600,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's 2014

the hollow globular bowl with rounded sides collared by a circular dish, supported on a hollow flared foot, carved overall with a variety of lush blossoms and attendant buds wreathed in their corresponding foliage, including chrysanthemum, magnolia and camellia around the bowl, peony, chrysanthemum and prunus on the upper side of the dish and a repeat of all six flowers on the underside, all wreathed in lush foliage contained within the ridged rims above further flowers around the foot, the interior lacquered in dark brown.

Note: Four carved lacquer bowlstands belonging to this special group of wares, all decorated with a floral motif around the bowl and stand, from the collection of the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, are illustrated in Karamono. Imported Lacquer – Chinese, Korean and Ryukyuan (Okinawa), Tokyo, 1997, pls. 84-88. See a further bowlstand decorated with two five-clawed dragons on the sides of the bowl and the top of the stand with three dragons, the base bearing a Xuande reign mark, included in the exhibition 2000 Years of Chinese Lacquer, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 48, together with two other stands, cat. nos. 46-47, the former carved with a dense floral scroll motif and the latter with flying phoenixes amongst lotus scrolls, however, both stands of a broad petal form as seen here.   

The decoration seen on the present bowlstand is reminiscent of a piece, from the Krolik and Plesch collections, sold in our London rooms, 24th February 1970, lot 83; and another bowlstand sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 29th May 2007, lot 1555, from a Japanese private collection. 

For the inspiration see earlier, Song dynasty, stands of similar shape but generally left undecorated, included in the exhibition So Gen no bi/ The Colors and Forms of Song and Yuan China, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 2004, cat. nos. 144-9, 153-4, 156-7.

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