A Cinnabar Lacquer Qin-Shaped Writing Box. Ming Dynasty, 15th Century - Photo Sotheby's

of oblong form resembling a qin, the cover deftly carved and incised through the layers of red lacquer to the ochre ground with two long-tailed birds flying among peony blossoms wreathed by a profuse foliage and attendant buds, the birds plumage finely incised with striations, the sides carved with foliate ruyi, the box similarly carved with ruyi scrolls, enclosing an inkstone in the form of a qin, a 'dragon' inkcake inscribed with an imperial poem and two thin brushes in bamboo cases, the interior and base lacquered in black. 33 cm., 13 in.  Estimation: 400,000 - 600,000 HKD - Lot. Vendu 1,340,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: A private Japanese collection.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Compare a similar box in the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, illustrated in Selection from the Tokugawa Art Museum, vol. 2, Karamono, Imported Lacquerwork- Chinese, Korean and Ryukuan (Okinawa), Nagoya, 1997, no. 26. 

Red lacquer boxes of this unusual zither form were also produced during the Qing dynasty. See an 18th century example from the Qing court collection preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 51.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Hong Kong | 09 oct. 2012 www.sothebys.com