Bonhams 1793 : A fine large tixi black lacquer carved circular dish Song/Yuan Dynasty

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11 Nov 2010 10:30 GMT London, New Bond Street
Fine Chinese Art
Back to auction 17859

A fine large tixi black lacquer carved circular dish

Song/Yuan Dynasty
The interior deeply carved through the layers of thick black lacquer with a central flower head, surrounded by three registers of concentric ruyi-heads, the exterior with a further band of ruyi, the base lacquered black, Japanese wood box.
32cm (12½in) diam. (2).

Sold for £78,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

The term tixi can be literally translated as 'carved rhinoceros', and is recorded in use as early as the 9th century to refer a type of lacquer. The earliest recorded descrption of it (printed in 1366) explains that the term arose because of the similarities with a rider's leather saddle, which over time changes from black to red to brown and finally becomes a combination of all three colours, see H.Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p.70. While the technique is known to have been used as early as the Tang Dynasty, it rose to popularity during the Song and Yuan periods. Tixi lacquers from this period are known for the U-shaped profiles of their designs, as seen on the current dish.

This type of lacquer is also referred to by the Japanese term guri, which refers to pommel scrolls, which these designs are thought to resemble.

Compare another very similar but smaller dish with three registers of ruyi-heads in the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, dated to the Northern Song period, illustrated in The Colours and Forms of Song and Yuan China: featuring lacquerwares, ceramics and metalwares, Tokyo, 2004, fig.63.