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Zhang Minde
Late Yuan carved-lacquer master, otherwise unrecorded, whose signed red lacquer box with flower viewers is in the Palace Museum
A craft workshop centres on a potter's wheel holding a tall celadon vase, amid racks of red lacquer boxes, an embroidery frame with a floral design, shelves of celadon ware, carved wooden panels and stacked logs, while one craftsman works at a table and another stands at a glowing kiln.
Also known as Signed 'Made by Zhang Minde'
- Roles
- Master Craftsmen
Zhang Minde was a carved-lacquer master of the late Yuan whose life is unrecorded; the Palace Museum suggests he may have been a younger follower of Zhang Cheng, the master of Xitang in Jiaxing. His only known surviving work is a round carved red lacquer box from the Qing palace collection, with the four-character needle-incised signature 'made by Zhang Minde' inside the lid, in a style of signature and carving that follows Zhang Cheng. The lid shows a railed courtyard with pavilion, bamboo and garden rocks, two boys preparing food and drink and two figures admiring flowers, carved in thick lacquer with rounded strokes; it is counted among the finest late Yuan lacquers.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active c. late Yuan