A rare carved brown lacquer quatrefoil tray, late Yuan-early Ming dynasty, 14th-15th century

Lot 674. A rare carved brown lacquer quatrefoil tray, late Yuan-early Ming dynasty, 14th-15th century; 8 1/4 in. (21 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 150,000. Price realised HKD 203,150. © Christie's Image Ltd 2002 

Finely carved around the cavetto through the brown lacquer to the cinnabar-red ground, with four peonies borne on a leafy meander, the central undecorated medallion corresponding in shape to the lobed rim, the gently rounded sides on the exterior with a further floral scroll, age cracks.

Note: Compare the style of the present tray to a black lacquer six-lobed cupstand with peonies around the rim, from the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, included in the exhibition Carved Lacquer, jointly organised with the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, 1984, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 92. For a tiered box with this same type of reddish-brown lacquer, excavated from the tomb of the late Yuan dynasty scholar Ren Renfa (1255-1328), see Zhongguo Gudai Qiqi, Ancient Chinese Lacquer Ware, Beijing, 1987, no. 43.