Lot 562. A carved cinnabar lacquer box and cover, 16th century; 12.6cm (5in) wide. Estimate: 3,000 GBP - 5,000 GBP. Sold for £ 2,805 (€ 3,272). © Bonhams 2001-2021

The rectangular top carved with a scholar flanked by a deer, standing on a lake shore with his boy attendant offering an official's cap, the shore dotted with luxuriant plants and rocks, the ground and water finely picked out with variations of cell-pattern grounds, the sides of the box and cover with leafy branches of cherry blossoms on a brocade ground, the interior black.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 23 March 2012, lot 1700.

Note: See a similar cinnabar lacquer box and cover illustrated in Chinese Art in the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, 1997, pl.99; a related example in the Shanghai Museum, is included In A Myriad of Forms: The Ancient Chinese Lacquers, Shanghai, 2018, no.85; and another is published in The Complete Collection of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Beijing, 2006, no.196.

See a related carved cinnabar lacquer rectangular box and cover, 16th century, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 11 September 2019, lot 825.

Lot 564. A rare large brown lacquer mallow-shaped basin, Late Ming Dynasty; 44cm (17 1/4in) wide. Estimate: £1,500 - £2,000. Sold for £ 1,402 (€ 1,636). © Bonhams 2001-2021

Supported on eight bracket feet, rising to the everted foliate rim with eight lobes and ribs running down the cavetto, covered overall with a reddish-brown lacquer, fitted box.

Provenance: Kaikodo Asian Art, New York.

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer Exhibition, London, 2007, no.121.

Note: Monochrome lacquer eight-petalled mallow-shaped dishes are known during the Song and Yuan dynasties; see an eight-petalled brown lacquer dish, 1200-1400, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by P.Carvalho, The World of Lacquer: 2000 Years of History, Lisbon, 2001, p.34, no.4. However, the overall form of this vessel has strong parallels to Wanli porcelain basins, see for example, In Pursuit of the Dragon: Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle, 1988, pp.128-129, nos.61 and 62.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 June 2021