A CARVED CINNABAR AND GREEN LACQUER INGOT-SHAPED TRAYHongwu mark, 16th century Carved within a panel mirroring the trays shape with a scholarly figure fishing from a promontory beneath maple and a cloud supporting a Daoist pavilion, set within a border of prunus and another flower, the exterior with a wide band ofposite floral sprays revealing a paler ground beneath, with an engraved gilt six-character mark in a vertical line to the base. 9in (22.8cm) across 十六世紀 剔紅山水人物盤 《大明洪武年製》款 Whilst our dish can be classified as ingot-shaped, it is clearly not as pronounced as a slightly larger Jiajing-marked ingot-shaped dish illustrated in Carved Lacquer in the Collection of the Palace Museum , 1985, pl. 190. The Hongwu mark, one rarely seen in lacquer ware, is clearly apocryphal though the style of the cinnabar decoration with its deep carving of both the borders and the central scene inbination with thickly-outlined border surrounds appears to clearly place its production in the Ming period, probably, more specifically during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566).