Box with Pommel Scroll Design

China

Not on view

The lush spirals carved into the lacquer illustrate a design commonly known as “pommel scroll” because the bracket-like shapes resemble the pommel of a Chinese sword. This motif was popular in lacquer, ceramics, and metalwork in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and remained so in carved lacquer, as both a primary subject and as a decorative embellishment, for centuries.

Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China

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Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China
Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China
Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China
Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China
Box with Pommel Scroll Design, Carved red and black lacquer, China

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