WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

117
A fine lacquer cabinet
Kangxi period
23B x 19 x 13K in, 58.7 x 48.2 x 34.6 cm
of rectangular form with two drawers enclosing a fitted interior. The front is decorated with a
panel containing pairs of mythical lion-like animals, birds and hares amid various flowering
plants, including peony, prunus and lingzhi fungus in relief lacquer on a black lacquer ground,
surrounded by painted lacquer borders of lozenges, lotus flowers inlaid in mother-of-pearl,
and key-fret. The top and sides are decorated in the same technique with panels of mythical
animals, birds and plants; the back is plain. The interior is fitted with ten drawers, embellished
with sprays of fruits and flowers, and the doors are decorated with phoenixes amid peony and
ornamental rocks. The undersides of the drawers bear inked Chinese inscriptions to indicate
their placement. The fittings are baitong (paktong), and the lock-plate is chased with birds
amid flowers, and the hinges with scrolling lotus.
Similar depictions of birds and mythical animals can be found on Kangxi porcelain:
see, for example, Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, no. 100, pp. 138–9.
A cabinet decorated in the same technique with hunting scenes is illustrated in Carvalho,
The World of Lacquer: 2000 Years of History, no. 16, p. 59. Such cabinets are, however, more
often found in Coromandel lacquer, and for a similar example, see Jourdain and Jenyns,
Chinese Export Art in the Eighteenth Century, pl. 20, p. 83. Note also a lacquer box painted
with similar birds illustrated in Herberts, Oriental Lacquer: Art and Technique, pp. 234–5.
ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 151