Lot 2510. Property from a Japanese private collection. A black lacquer mallow-shaped dish, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 18.1 cm. Lot Sold 889,000 HKD (Estimate 500,000 - 700,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2023

the base inscribed with a character reading zhen, Japanese wood box, with accompanying certificate signed Showa Kohitsu Ryonin 昭和 古筆了任 (1875-1933).

Provenance: Collection of Kanamori Sowa (1584-1657), according to the box inscriptions.
Osaka Bijustu Club, 7th March 1931, lot 235.
A Japanese private collection, acquired since the early 2000s.

Note: The newly established Song dynasty and subsequent changes in the distribution of wealth and resources, birthed a renewed discovery of the beauty of nature. This fresh aesthetic celebrated ideals of classical beauty, creating the Song dynasty lacquerware, which evoked an understated elegance and sense of perfection.

The Song rule aimed to revive romanticised concepts of antiquity based on Confucian Han ideals, while also trying to establish an identity that deviated from the Tang. Thus, the Song scholar-elite promoted commercial liberalism, which granted much more freedom to the activities of merchants, brokers, and landowners. The capital became a vibrant urban hub, and a wealthy upper class was formed. Because silver had become the Song currency of payment, hence less available, and goldware was restricted to the court, the development of exquisite materials such as lacquer flourished.

Symbolising longevity and fulfilling life, the mallow flower was one of the most popular forms of lacquerware during the 10th to 14th centuries. Many of these pieces were made with wood cores in the laborious quandie method, or with a lacquer-stiffened textile core. These methods allowed craftsmen to create complex lobed shapes and gave the wares a weightless quality. See two slightly smaller examples from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2013, lots 142 and 147; and another example of similar size from the collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2022, lot 18.

Kanamori Sowa (1584-1656) was a tea connoisseur of the early Edo Period and established the famed Sowa School, which is known for grace and elegance and with many followers among the aristocracy. Disinherited by his father, the feudal lord Kanamori Arishige, Sowa moved to Kyoto and later on became a Zen priest. In Kyoto, he befriended many court nobles, Buddhist monks, samurai and tea masters like Konoe Nobuhiro, Ichijo Akiyoshi, Kobori Enshu and Katagiri Sekishu. He also discovered the Kyoto potter, Nonomura Ninsei. The Sowa-ryu tea ceremony offered a new artistic expression and appreciation of the art of tea and is still being performed today

Sotheby's. Karamono: Heirlooms of Chinese Art from Medieval Japan, Hong Kong, 9 October 2023