Description
A Chinese or Ryukyu rectangular polychrome lacquer tray with mother of pearl inlay and inset basketry panels.
The gently everted inner sides of the tray in a burgundy lacquer. Each section with a single cavetto accented with faded gilding on a beaded edge that is surrounding basketry panels of finely woven bamboo. The main inner surface of the tray with mother of pearl inlay in a plum and bird pattern (梅雀纹), depicting budding and blooming plum blossoms. The otter surfaces, sides, beaded apron and feet all in faded black over burgundy lacquer. The underside in a black lacquer applied to a course ramie fabric.
Trays of this form are sometimes called scroll trays (軸盆), fruit trays (水果盤), incense trays (香盤) or simply just rectangular trays (長方形盤). The overall form of this tray closely matches designs common to lacquerware in Southern China in the late Ming (1368 -1644) and early Qing dynasties (and onward) from places such as Anhui down into Yongchun in southern Fujian. The color scheme of red & black with gilding is very consistent with Fujian wares. The overall shape of this tray generally matches with the base of a box in the Anhui Museum. This is unsurprising considering trays of this form draw their inspiration from lidded baskets of the same form and are merely reminiscent of the baskets lacking the lid section.
In approximately 1238 during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the famous Zhejiang painter Song Boren (宋伯仁) wrote the book “The joy of Plum Blossoms Manual” (梅花喜神譜), a painting manual published as a series of woodblock prints which depicts a hundred paintings of plum blossoms in various stages. From the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) onward, plum blossoms as a subject became increasingly popular among literati.
From time to time, trays of this form show up in Chinese auction houses, most of them attributed to China but as is common with Chinese lacquers, they are almost always sourced from Japan, where lacquer has been collected for a millennium. And while Japan is a rich source of Chinese antique lacquerwares, the same came be said of Ryukyu lacquers as well. Further complicating the matter, during the late 14th century onward into the 16th centuries, the plum blossom pattern became quite popular in the Ryukyu Kingdom and can be seen on wares from this period. Basketry panels were and remain a common feature as well. If of a Ryukyu provenance it would be from the earlier periods when the Fujianese influence was at its peak.
This tray can be dated to the late Ming dynasty period (17th century) although it seems based on the style of the apron on the underside an early Qing dating feels more accurate. Its highly possible the tray is earlier and inlay added at a later date based on the “carved away” mother of pearl inlay technique used and that the imagery on this tray is more reminiscent of later rather than earlier interpretations of “The joy of Plum Blossoms Manual. “
Size (cm): 46 x 25 x 5.5
Japanese Box
Other works of reference to this piece.
