Collections: Asian Art

Traveling Coffer. China, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) or Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), circa 1250. Lacquer over leather, bamboo, wood, metal mounts, 17 1/4 x 28 3/8 x 15 in. (43.8 x 72.1 x 38.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Asian Art Council, 1996.68

Medallions with mythical and real animals and floral motifs set against elaborately decorated backgrounds adorn the surface of this magnificent and well-preserved coffer. These motifs were popular throughout Asia during the reign of the Mongols in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and can be found on textiles and ceramics as well as lacquered objects. Merchants and other travelers used sturdy covered boxes such as this to hold their wares; the most luxurious lacquered boxes became desired trade goods in and of themselves. This piece was made in China for the Central Asian market, but other Chinese lacquers traveled to Egypt, eastern Iran, Southeast Asia, and Japan, where numerous examples in a similar style were used to store sacred Buddhist texts.

The coffer exemplifies the use of the lacquer techniques of qiangjin and qiangcai, in which lines are engraved into a black lacquer ground, then filled with gold leaf or powder and pigmented lacquer to create colorful patterns. An inscription under the lid names the Ou family from the city of Wenzhou as the manufacturer. Wenzhou in Zhejiang province had been a celebrated center for lacquer ware since the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127).