Lacquer tray carved in tixi technique

A square lacquer tray, supported on a low foot, the upturned sides with indented corners.  The interior is carved with three tiers of ‘pommel’ scrolls; sixteen in the outer ring, eight in the middle tier and four to the centre, all arranged around a central quatrefoil ornament.  The outside rim is carved with a more simplistic pommel design.  The grooves are cut at an angle and show the alternating layers of red and black lacquer, which appear lighter toward the edges of the dish.  The interior and exterior of the dish are highly polished.  The base is plain.

•  The striking abstract geometric design of bold trefoils seen on this tray is generically referred to as tixi or ‘marbled’ lacquer.  The grooves are deliberately cut at an angle, revealing the different coloured layers of lacquer used to build up the surface.  The motif is also known as ‘pommel scroll’, because it resembles the shape of the ring-pommel on early Chinese swords.1   The term guri, which is often used to denote the same motif, was coined in Japan.  Tixi lacquer is known from the Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 1279) onwards, and became very popular during the Yuan dynasty (1279 – 1368).  A comparable, slightly larger square tray with four tiers of pommel scrolls is in the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo.2   An octagonal food box from the Irving collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a arrangement of very similar pommel scrolls to the top, as well as a subtly different pommel design to the sides, matching that on the back of the present dish.3   An early Ming period date (late 14th - early 15th century) is ascribed to this box by Watt and Ford.

1. Watt, J.C.Y. and Ford, B. East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, page 27
2. Yoshikawa, S. Carved Lacquer, The Tokugawa Art Museum and the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Japan, 1984, no. 16, page 17
3. Watt, J.C.Y. and Ford, B. op. cit. no. 12, page 57