A LACQUER AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID INCENSE STAND

17th century
China

height: 46 cm
width: 29.5 cm

The square shaped top sits on a high narrow waist with an elongated opening to each face – above a waved apron, and supported on four tall cabriole legs with scrolling feet. The latter are pegged into a square base that mirrors the form of the top. The lacquer is brown over a pine wood frame – the mother-of-pearl decoration densely inlaid over the whole visible surface. The top depicts a palace view, with courtyard and central lake; an official rides over a bridge accompanied by his retinue – all of whom are taking their leave of the assembled household. Mountains and trees rise through the clouds, amongst which cranes are in flight, and the whole picture is framed in a diaper border. Similar, more intimate views, decorate each of the four apron faces within lozenge shaped cartouches; the background diaper decoration – combined with the raised scallop that covers the top of each leg – directly imitates a textile apron.

The top surface of the base depicts a naturalistic scene with a large-scale peacock and his mate below a flowering tree, and beside peonies and rockwork. This picture (in both style and subject matter) is similar to the decoration on filled in and incised lacquer furniture and Coromandel screens of the 17th century.

The density of the pictorial scenes – together with the profusion of the various diaper backgrounds and floral scrolls – results in a table of unusual decorative compactness, with very few areas of blank space. It is an astonishing example of the skill of the Chinese artisan at this time.

similar examples
‘Mother-of-Pearl Inlay in Chinese Lacquer Art – focused on the works from the 14th–17th centuries’, Tokyo National Museum, 1981 – figure 46–1.

‘Lacquer – An International History and Collector’s Guide’, Bracken Books,
1984 – full colour page no. 58