A red lacquer box, Ming dynasty, 16th century.
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Pillow shaped, of square section with cusped corners, with basket weave, incised and decorated in polychrome lacquer on a red lacquer ground with a bird in a blossoming garden in the colours green, pink, black and yellow. Measure 24x24x11.5 cm.
Wear, crazing.
Provenance
From the Collection of Dr Emil Hultmark (1872-1943), Stockholm, thence by descent within the family until now.
Label from Hans Öström Collection, lot no 797.
Dr Emil Hultmark was an art historian, collector, donor and patron of the arts. He combined important work as an art historian not only with the creation of one of the largest and most remarkable private art collections in Sweden, but also with the construction of an archive of Swedish artists and art craftsmen unparalleled in its extent, together with a library containing almost all that has been written about Swedish art.
Emil Hultmark was one of the co-founders of the ‘Kinaklubben’ (China Club) in Stockholm in the 1920's with Carl Kempe (1884-1967) and the Crown Prince Gustav Adolf. He is a well known collector and his beautiful home and summer house is well documented in the magazine 'Svenska Hem i ord och bild' in the 1930's, which provide us with a fascinating window into this golden age of European collecting.
Literature
Svenska Hem i ord och bild, 1936. Depicted on page 173. In the corner of the dining room on the altar table.