Tray

Suitable for use as a tray for scholar's brushes, this exquisitely crafted object has been inlaid with minute pieces of shell using the mother-of-pearl technique called luodian by the Chinese. The interior of the tray is inset with engraved pieces of mollusk shell to depict a waterside scene with groups of people standing in terraced buildings, a small procession crossing a footbridge, and a boatman poling his small craft. Such are the popular motifs embodying scholar-officials’ desire to seek spiritual freedom in the nature away from the restraining social burdens. Popular since the Tang dynasty (618-906), the mother-of-pearl technique was expanded during the Yuan (1280-1368) dynasty to include complex pictorial representation. Landscapes, birds, and flower subject matter remained popular well into the 1600s.