On the side of the cover are abstract, rocklike forms. They provide a groundline, often seen in sixteenth-century lacquer works, for the auspicious peonies and long-tailed birds on the cover.
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明晚期 剔紅綬帶牡丹紋漆盒
Title:Box with long-tailed birds and peonies
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:second half of the 16th century
Culture:China
Medium:Carved red lacquer
Dimensions:H. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm); Diam. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)
Classification:Lacquer
Credit Line:Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891
Object Number:91.1.638
Edward C. Moore American, New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Lacquer: Painted and Carved," 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer," August 6, 2009–February 21, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," December 14, 2010–May 1, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Red and Black: Chinese Lacquer, 13th–16th Century," September 7, 2011–June 10, 2012.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer, 14th to 19th Century," June 15, 2016–October 9, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Spirited Creatures: Animal Representations in Chinese Silk and Lacquer," October 21, 2017–July 22, 2018.
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