An extremely rare imperial qiangjin and tianqi ‘Dragon’ chrysanthemum-shaped dish, Jiajing incised and gilt mark and period

Lot 8007. An extremely rare imperial qiangjin and tianqi ‘Dragon’ chrysanthemum-shaped dish, Jiajing incised and gilt six-character mark and of the period (1522-1566). Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000 (USD 154,402 - USD 231,603). Unsold. © Christies Images Ltd 2017 

The dish is delicately worked with forty-eight narrow fluted sides with pointed tips radiating from a slightly recessed centre and continuing on the exterior across the foot, each incised and gilt on both sides to represent the feathers of a peacock around a central roundel finely etched and gilt with a scaly sinuous dragon descending through a leafy peony spray filled with polychrome lacquer. The base is covered with a dark brown lacquer with an incised and gilt Jiajing six-character reign mark in a vertical line to the centre. 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box.

Provenance.: The Funabashi Family Collection
Collection of Shinomura Toun
A Japanese private collection
Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3081

Label inscribed with the provenance. 

Note: During the mid-Ming period, the combination of qiangjin and tianqi was employed for use on imperial lacquer, and the present dish is a good example of the high quality of the works that were produced.

Two dishes of comparable size and identical design are known. The first, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the exhibition, Carving the Subtle Radiance of Colors: Treasured Lacquerware in the National Palace Museum, 2007, p.104, no. 093. The second, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 201, no. 159 (fig. 1).

Imperial qiangjin and tianqi 'Dragon' chrysanthemum-shaped dish, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566), Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Christie's. Important Ming Imperial Works of Art from The Le Cong Tang Collection Evening Sale, 27 November 2017, Hong Kong