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Lot Essay
It is unusual to find landscapes rather than flowers carved on the sides of tiered boxes of this date. However, a four-tiered box and cover, also carved around the base with a shaped apron, in the collection of the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Carved Lacquer, The Tokugawa Art Museum and the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, October - November 1984, no. 134
The depiction of a single figure in a landscape on the cover of a box of this size also appears to be unusual. Single figures are more often found on small circular boxes, such as the box, also carved with Budai and a crane, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 387. A three-tiered box and cover of very similar design was sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 137. The unusual band of overlapping petals carved around the the foot can also be seen on another red lacquer three-tiered box and cover, of hexagonal form, carved with Budai, illustrated by Derek Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, London, 1992, p. 61, pl. 37.
The depiction of a single figure in a landscape on the cover of a box of this size also appears to be unusual. Single figures are more often found on small circular boxes, such as the box, also carved with Budai and a crane, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 387. A three-tiered box and cover of very similar design was sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 137. The unusual band of overlapping petals carved around the the foot can also be seen on another red lacquer three-tiered box and cover, of hexagonal form, carved with Budai, illustrated by Derek Clifford, Chinese Carved Lacquer, London, 1992, p. 61, pl. 37.