A very rare Tianqi and Qiangjin lacquer lobed table and stand, Late 16th-early 17th century

23 avril 2017

A very rare Tianqi and Qiangjin lacquer lobed table and stand, Late 16th-early 17th century

Lot 322. A very rare Tianqi and Qiangjin lacquer lobed table and stand, Late 16th-early 17th century; 42cm (16 1/2in) wide (2). Estimate £30,000 - 35,000 (€36,000 - 42,000). Photo: Bonhams.

The table of lobed six-sided form, the top panel painted with elaborate pavilions and rocks amidst wispy clouds and foaming waves within a leiwen border, all above a diaper waist gilt with flower heads, resting on a bombe apron carved with interlocking barbed cartouches enclosing the 'Auspicious Emblems' alternating with lotus flowers and acanthus leaves also on the cabriole legs in conjunction with bats and lotus buds, the waisted base supported on ruyi feet and carved with further lotus and bats reserved on a gilt ground of rolling waves.

Note: Polychrome painted lacquer was highly popular in the late Ming dynasty. The Xiushi lu, a manual for lacquer manufacture compiled during the early 17th century, mentions two types of filled-in lacquer: the 'carve and inlay' type, loukan, according to which certain areas were cut out of the otherwise finished lacquer surface and inlaid with variously coloured lacquer, and the 'filled-in' or 'polish-reveal' method, moxian, when certain portions of the design were raised through multiple layers of lacquer as the ground was filled with additional lacquer and the boundaries between the different colour fields defined by engraved and gilt lines.

The highly auspicious designs on this stand suggest religious associations concerning the attainment of Immortality. The floating landscape may have been conceived as the Daoist realm of Kunlun.

The blossoming lotus flowers may have also evoked the transmutation of lacquer into gold, a Daoist process aimed at driving away malignant spirits and acquiring immortality.

As a flower emerging from mud, however, the lotus was regarded by Buddhists as symbolic of enlightenment and purity and may have also evoked the rebirth in the wondrous Pure Land of Buddha Amitabha.

Lacquer stands dating to the Ming dynasty and combining carving and filling techniques are rare. A similarly-shaped stand, Ming dynasty, is illustrated by Lee Yu-kuan, Oriental Lacquer Art, Tokyo, 1972, pl.244, p.319.