Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Seal-paste box and lid with three figures and a deer in a landscape

  • loan

Glossary

lacquer

  • lacquer

    Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The Barlow Collection by the University of Sussex

    The Barlow Collection

    The piece is of rounded form, with a domed top and slightly concave base. Both parts are carved through thick layers of cinnabar lacquer with landscape scenes. The cover shows an elderly bearded gentleman in rich flowing robes accompanied by two servant boys, one carrying a qin zither, the other with a bundle slung across his shoulder, under overhanging branches of a pine and a deciduous tree. They are surrounded by rocks, further trees and other plants, with hills visible in the distance and clouds above. The ground is filled with honey-comb diaper, and blank space with horizontal striations. The reverse shows three deer among rocks under pine branches, with similar diaper backgrounds. The piece is heavily made, with a wooden core and perhaps some metal reinforcements, the inner sides are lacquered in black.

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