Lot 673. A very fine and rare early Ming carved cinnabar lacquer circular box and cover, inscribed Xuande six-character mark and of the period (1426-1435); 5 3/8 in. (13.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000. Price realised HKD 454,100. © Christie's Image Ltd 2002 

The cover deeply carved to the yellow ground to depict a peony in full bloom surrounded by four newly opened buds borne on a leafy branch, the sides of the box and cover with a composite flower scroll comprising chrysanthemum and peonies in various stages of bloom, the recessed base and interior lacquered brown, incised with the reign mark in a vertical line on the inner left side of the footrim with traces of gold infill remaining, minor age cracks.

Note: There appears to be a slight depression beneath the reign mark and it is probable that a previous Yongle mark was effaced and replaced with that of the Xuande emperor. It is known that the Xuande emperor commissioned a very large quantity of carved lacquer wares early in his reign and pieces that were completed but not yet presented to the Yongle emperor before his sudden death in 1424 were re-inscribed with the emperor Xuande reign mark in the left hand corner.

A number of related boxes bearing Yongle and Xuande reign marks have been published. Compare the box of this pattern and size, inscribed with a Yongle mark, included in the exhibition, Chinesische Lackarbeiten, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, 1988, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 36. Also included in the exhibition is a similar box of smaller size inscribed with a Xuande four-character mark filled with gold, from the collection of Carl Kempe, also illustrated by F. Low-Beer in "Chinese Lacquer of the Early 15th Century", B.M.F.E.A., no. 22, 1930, pl. 2, figs. 2 and 3, where on page 149 he mentions that a duplicate of this box in his collection has a six-character Yongle mark. Another similar example is illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, no. 20. Compare also the example sold in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 27 March 1997, lot 23.