Lot 32. A very rare carved cinnabar lacquer 'Three peaches' dish, Jiajing six-character mark and of the period (1522-1566). 19 cm diam. Sold for €38,400 © Bonhams 2025

Of circular form, with gently rounded shallow sides rising from a short foot, finely carved to the centre with three plump peaches nestling amidst lush foliage, issuing from a single lingzhi sprig, each peach meticulously carved with a single character fu (happiness), lu (fortune) and shou (longevity) against a dark green diapered wan background, the sides carved with a pair of sinuous striding dragons and undulating scrolls, the exterior with a composite floral meander comprising large blooms including chrysanthemum, lotus and camellia blossoms, the foot encircled with a key-fret band, the base lacquered black and incised with a gilt vertical six-character reign mark.
 

Provenance: Formerly in a French private collection.
 

Note: This beautifully carved dish illustrates the ingenuity and joy of Ming dynasty lacquer ware. During the Ming dynasty, artists working with lacquer ware experimented with new forms, designs and colours. Many designs and motifs found on lacquer ware were inspired by those seen on porcelains of the same period. Carved lacquer ware of the Jiajing period is characterised by intricate and lively designs often laden with auspicious symbolism as the present dish with three peaches and the stylised fu, lu and shou characters demonstrate. Designs were not only complex but colourful as artists freely incorporated layers of red, green and yellow lacquer such as on the present dish which combines the red design on a dark green ground. Coloured lacquer ware of the Jiajing period includes tihong, tihuang and ticai. The treatise Xiushi lu by lacquer artist Huang Cheng, active in the Longqing period (1567-1572) of the Ming dynasty, records the sophisticated and highly complex production methods, materials, tools, types and shapes of lacquer ware of the mid-Ming period.

Dishes of this design featuring three peaches with three stylised auspicious characters borne on a ruyi sprig appear to have been quite popular and several examples are in museum collections. See, for example, a closely related dish in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2006, cat. no. 119 (Fig. 1). Another example in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, is published in Chinese Carved Lacquer. Beauty of Carving through the Lacquer Layers,, cat.no. 26, pp. 58-59. Yet another example is illustrated by Fritz Low-Beer in 'Chinese Lacquer of the Middle and Late Ming Period', in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 24, 1952, pl. 10. See a dish of this design sold in Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 October 2014, lot 3214. Compare also a Jiajing mark and period cinnabar lacquer box, decorated with similarly inscribed peaches resting on lingzhi fungus, issuing from a rock, included in the exhibition and catalogue by Bluett and Sons, Ming Lacquer, London, 1960, cat.no. 10.

Bonhams. Arts d'Asie, Paris, 11 December 2025