2-737-994 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Plate with Peony Decoration, late 1300s-early 1400s. This lacquer dish of strikingly deep red colour is decorated with a dynamically carved design of three peony blossoms. Because of the complexity in lacquer production, items are often small and were seldom made for daily use. Lacquer was traditionally made using the sap of the lacquer tree found in southern China. Many successive layers of lacquer would be applied until the surface could be carved into complex geometric or figural forms. Red became the preferred colour for lacquerware carvings, in part because the colour has long been associated with good fortune in China.