Lot 2512. Property from a Japanese private collection. A very rare carved polychrome lacquer tray, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368); 21.8 cm, Japanese wood box. Lot Sold 2,794,000 HKD (Estimate 600,000 - 800,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2023

Provenance: Collection of the Konoike family, Osaka, according to the box label.
A Japanese private collection, acquired in the early 2000s.

Exhibited: Zonsei: Shitsugei no Irodori [Carving the Sky, Painting the Stars: Treasure of Decorated Chinese Lacquer], Gotoh Museum, Tokyo, 2014, cat. no. 27.

Note: See a similar tray illustrated in Sen-no Rikyu ten: 400nen-ki Tokubetsu Tenrankai [Sen-no Rikyu: 400th Memorial Special Exhibition], Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, 1990, cat. no. 84; and another related Song dynasty lacquer tray, carved in a similar technique but in a lotus and classic scrolls design, illustrated in Chinese Lacquer, The Shoto Museum of Art 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1991, cat. no. 34.

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