WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

128 ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008
103
A rare carved black lacquer ewer
Ming dynasty, 16th century
Length: 4K in, 11.7 cm
after an archaic bronze vessel (yi ), the oval
ewer has a broad lip, opposite which is a
loop handle carved with an animal mask,
and stands on a solid, stepped foot. The
black lacquer is marbled with five layers of
red and carved with scroll designs through
to an ochre ground.
Formerly in the collection of M. Doullens,
French Ambassador to China in Beijing
before 1914.
It is very rare to find small ewers decorated
in this technique, which is more often
found on boxes and dishes, but Garner
illustrates a related libation cup, in the
collection of the Victoria and Albert
Museum, in Chinese Lacquer, no. 56.
104
A carved red lacquer ewer
Ming dynasty, 16th century
Length: 4N in, 12.1 cm
based on an archaic bronze original (yi ).
The broad oval vessel has a loop handle,
issuing from an archaistic animal mask,
an everted lip and a solid, stepped foot.
The sides are carved with two birds, one
perched in flowering prunus and the other
in camellia, on a ground of rosette diaper
between bands of key-fret around the
mouth and wavy petals around the foot.
The interior and base are lacquered black.
Formerly in the collection of M. Doullens,
French Ambassador to China in Beijing
before 1914.
Kopplin illustrates a similar pair of ewers,
supported on short feet, in Im Zeichen des
Drachen: Von der Schönheit chinesischer
Lacker, Hommage an Fritz Löw-Beer,
no. 63, p. 114, in the collection of the
Linden-Museum, Stuttgart.