明嘉靖 雕漆剔彩“壽康”盤|Dish with characters for longevity and health (shou kang)

Unknown

mid-16th century · Carved red, yellow, and green lacquer · Asian Art

Auspicious characters in stylized archaic script became extremely popular in sixteenth-century Ming decorative art. The two characters in the center, for longevity (shou) and health (kang), illustrate a blessing wish. The artist nearly merged them into a single character in an ornamental and playful way.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-16th century

Medium

Carved red, yellow, and green lacquer

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015