Dish

This dish features an auspicious decorative pattern carved out of a dark quatrefoil ground with multiple layers of lacquer paint, which is commonly known as the tixi technique. If observed closely, the alternating red and black layers could be seen from the sides, almost resembling the multiple layers of a puff pastry.

Four cloud-shaped ruyi heads fill in the four petals of a begonia-shaped form, implying wishes for good fortune.  In Chinese, ruyi means “everything fares well,” and cloud-shaped motifs of this kind had become very popular on carved black or red lacquerwares since the Song dynasty, when silver vases also applied similar patterns on their surface decorations.