Lot 548. An extremely rare 'imperial-yellow dragon' polychrome lacquer box and cover, Wanli mark and period, dated to the yiwei year, corresponding to 1595. Length 12 1/2  in., 31.7 cm. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 USD. Lot sold 329,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of rectangular form with rounded sides and cusped corners, deftly carved in varied levels of relief through the ochre-yellow lacquer to the green and red layers below, with two five-clawed dragons contesting a 'flaming pearl' among clouds and above rocks battered by crested waves, all reserved on a ground of red floral diapers and green undulating waves, the sides with composite floral scrolls of peony, the box similarly decorated with floral cartouches recessed on a lotus scroll-ground above a border of key-fret around the foot, the interior and base lacquered red, incised partially erased reign mark in gilt, Japanese wood box (4).

Provenance: Old Japanese Collection. 

Note: Two closely related pieces, perhaps from the same set, one a box with almost identical design and shape (but with the fifth claw later removed) also dated to the Wanli yiwei year in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 45 - Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 212, no. 169; the other, a tray with ochre-yellow colored dragons with the same design as the cover of the present box, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors. Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, p. 112, no. 100 (fig. 1). The tray also bears a partially erased inscription of Wanli yiwei corresponding to 1595, but in addition, has a later added Yongle mark. 

An extremely rare 'imperial-yellow dragon' polychrome lacquer tray, Wanli mark and period, dated to the yiwei year, corresponding to 1595, but in addition, has a later added Yongle mark in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors. Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2008, p. 112, no. 100

Boxes of this type with indented corners were popular in the Wanli reign and were produced both in porcelain and lacquer until the end of the Ming dynasty. A similar box but in red lacquer and with four-clawed dragons rather than five, was included in the exhibition East Asian Lacquer. The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, p. 102, no. 37, where it is noted that these boxes were used principally as presentation boxes that held important documents or gifts, and might have also been made as gifts presented to lower orders of nobility. Compare, also, another box of almost identical shape and design in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Lacquerware, Taipei, 1987, p. 124, no. 121.  See also a similarly shaped and carved polychrome 'dragon' box dated to the Wanli renchen year from the Sakamoto Goro Collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 160. 

Square tray.  Design of dragon in polychrome lacquer carving. Ming Dynasty, dated 1595. L. 25.2, W. 25.6, H. 4.7. Tokyo National Museum, TH467 ©2004-2016 Tokyo National Museum.

An important three-coloured cinnabar lacquer 'dragon' box and cover, mark and period of Wanli, dated to the renchen year (in accordance with 1592), from the Sakamoto Goro Collection. Sold 4,840,000 HKD at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 8th October 2013, lot 160. Photo Sotheby's.