Lot 513. A cinnabar 'tixi' lacquer box and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th - 16th century; Japanese wood box, 8.5 cm. Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 HKD. Lot sold: 277,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Property from the Kaisendo Museum.

Note: The carved design on the current box, known as tixi or the Japanese term, guri (curves and circles), was a pattern established towards the end of the Song dynasty. The scrolling foliage design on the current box, 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.

See two tixi lacquer boxes of similar form and closely related design, one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, published in Hai-wai Yi-chen. Chinese Art in Overseas Collections. Lacquerware, Taipei, 1987, pl. 73; and the other included in the exhibition East Asian Lacquer. The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, cat. no. 11.

Compare the tixi lacquer box and cover sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2012, lot 68; and another, of larger size (21.3 cm), sold in our New York rooms, 16th-17th September 2014, lot 546.

Lot 514. A cinnabar 'tixi' lacquer 'scholar under pine' cylindrical box and cover, Ming dynasty, 15th - 16th century; Japanese wood box, d. 6.3 cm; h. 6.5 cm. Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 HKD. Lot sold: 107,100 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Property from the Kaisendo Museum.

Lots 513-514 are being sold by the Kaisendo Museum, located in Yamagata Prefecture. The items were collected by Mr Kenzo Hasegawa (1886-1957), owner of the famous silk workshop in Kaminoyama. He began collecting knives and swords before his interest expanded to include lacquer, which he acquired between 1948 and 1950.

Sotheby's. CHINA / 5000 YEARS, Hong Kong, 26 May 2021