A CHINESE BLACK TIXI LACQUER BOX AND COVER

A CHINESE BLACK TIXI LACQUER BOX AND COVER
MING DYNASTY

The circular box and cover carved with juancao scrolls revealing alternating layers of black and red lacquer, the interior applied with plain black lacquer, the base with a label for the R A Pfungst Collection, no.565, together with a silk bag, 8cm. (3)

Provenance: an English private collection, Surrey, UK, purchased from Ben Janssens Oriental Art, 11th October 2013; formerly the collection of Henry Joseph Pfungst (1844-1917); sold on behalf of Parkinson's UK.

The type of lacquer termed tixi, characterised by a deeply carved all-over pattern of scrolls, originated during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). An early box and cover of this type with a ruyi-head motif can be seen in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.2005.276a-b, dated to the Southern Song/Yuan dynasty. Lacquerware of this type, also known by the Japanese term guri, owes its Chinese terminology to the conjunction of the words ti (to carve) and xi (rhinoceros), in reference to its similarity with the texture of carved rhinoceros horn. It remained popular throughout the Yuan period, as can be seen in two comparable black tixi boxes of this date in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, pp.18-19, pls.3 and 4. The specific pattern on the box and cover offered here is called juancao, or 'Fragrant Grass'. This decoration with its distinctly asymmetric motif of abstract scrolling tendrils is of archaistic taste, referencing the patterns on early Chinese lacquer and bronzes. It is typically associated with Yuan dynasty lacquer, as seen in a tixi box of this date and design also in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no.2007.231a-b. It is rarely seen on Ming dynasty pieces, making the piece offered here a rarity, but an early Ming date is suggested by the gently rising scrolls and their U-shaped troughs.

明 剔犀卷草紋蓋盒及錦袋
來源：英國薩里郡私人收藏，Henry Joseph Pfungst (1844-1917)舊藏。附 R A Pfungst收藏標籤。2013年10月11日購於倫敦古董商Ben Janssens Oriental Art。成交金額將全數捐贈英國帕金森基金會。