Lot 59. A cinnabar 'tixi' lacquer cup stand signed Yang Mao, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 16.5 cm, 6 ½ in. Estimate: 500,000 - 700,000 HKD. Lot sold 882,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the hollow globular bowl with rounded sides collared with a slightly curved circular dish, all supported on a hollow sprayed foot, finely carved with foliate scrolls through alternating layers of cinnabar, black and ochre lacquer, the black lacquered interior incised with a three-character inscription reading Yang Mao zao (made by Yang Mao), Japanese wood box.

Property from the Aoyama Studio Collection.

Note: The scrolling foliage design on the current cup stand, referred to as juancao (scrolling grass) or xiangcao (fragrant grass), first appeared on Song dynasty lacquerwares and enjoyed considerable popularity well into the Yuan dynasty. The present piece bears the needle-engraved signature Yang Mao zao (made by Yang Mao). Yang Mao is known from Gegu yaolun [The essential criteria of antiquities] by Cao Zhao of 1388, where he and Zhang Cheng, both of Xitang in Jiaxing district, Zhejiang province, southwest of modern Shanghai, are mentioned as carvers of red lacquer who became famous at end of the Yuan dynasty (Xinzeng gegu yaolun [New expanded edition of the essential criteria of antiquities], vol. 8, p. 2).

Sotheby's. Monochrome II, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong