Red lacquer on a wooden core with textile, black lacquer inside
China, 18th century
Three-tiered square stack box with lid and tray
The top of the lid shows a very delicate relief of four scholars in a garden, sitting at a low table and drinking wine
Garden landscape with trees, rocks and water
In the distance a mountain landscape with clouds
Water and the atmospheric background are implied by small, detailed geometric patterns
The edges with a medallion with blooming peonies and peony buds and stylized tendrils
The rounded corners of the box with auspicious symbols on a geometric star-grid underground
The feet of the tray in stylized ruyi shape, the top with a geometric décor and the edge with meander
Dimensions: 20 x 19 x 19 cm
Similar piece of Imperial provenance in the collection of the Palace Museum Beijing
Good condition
Provenance: Private collection, Northern Germany

The extremely fine and precisely carved lacquer is worked into several levels, creating an almost three-dimensional image. The partly hard cut is characteristic of the pieces form the Qing dynasty, especially the Qianlong period. Typically of the Qianlong period are the style of the lacquer and its quality of execution, as well as the relatively large open spaces in the décor.



Similar lacquer 3-tiered boxes are found in the Palace Museum in Beijing, illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing 1985, pl. 303 as well as in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Lacquerware, Taiwan 1987, p. 39, in the Tokugawa Art Museum in Japan, illustrated in East Asian Urushi Lacquer Work with Mother-of-Pearl Inlay, 1999, p.33 and in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan.



Liteature:

Cf. Wu Yü-chang (ed.), Masterpieces of Chinese Carved Lacquer Ware in the National Palace Museum Taipei, Taiwan 1971, pl. 38.; See also: Roger Keverne, Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics, Summer Exhibition 2002, London 2002, cat. no. 131; Derek Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, London 1992, pl. 105.



Condition:

The lacquer box is in an overall good condition for its age with usual signs of wear. Loss of material at the edges, restored cracks on the feet, nicks and slight surface fissures here and there are visible. The height measures 20 cm and the width as well as the depth is 19 cm.

Chinese Carved Lacquer Art

The resin used in Chinese lacquer art is extracted from the sap of the lacquer tree, which turns into a brown color after extraction and hardens during a long drying process. The lacquer gets its typical color, usually red or black, through the addition of cinnabar, charcoal or sometimes iron sulfate. During the labor-intensive manufacturing process the lacquer is applied layer by layer onto a substrate, usually wood, in up to two hundred ultra-thin layers, so that the total layer can reach a thickness of more than one centimeter. The latter is then carved with a sharp knife. The result is raised, often several millimeters deep relief and a plastic-dimensional pattern. This carved lacquer can be found primarily on vases or boxes.

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