A six-tiered cinnabar box from the Yuan dynasty

The Lee Family Collection, which the Dec. 1 sale is dispersing, is considered by experts to hold some of the finest Chinese lacquers from the Song to the Ming dynasties. The sale will be “a very significant event,” James J. Lally, one of the top dealers in Chinese art in New York and a former president of Sotheby’s, said in an e-mail message. “The catalog will include some of the finest and rarest Chinese lacquer remaining outside of museum collections today.”

“The Lee Family Collection has been created by three generations of dedicated and discerning scholar-collectors in Japan who have sought out the best early Chinese lacquer for many years, buying in China, Japan, London, New York or wherever it appeared in auctions or galleries around the world,” Mr. Lally added. “The collection is world-famous because it has been studied, analyzed, exhibited and published many times. Some of the items are the finest of their type in the world, and some of the pieces are virtually unique.”

The highlight of the collection is a rare Yuan dynasty octagonal box with mother-of-pearl inlays, depicting a banquet that the moon goddess, Chang’e, is holding for the immortals. The box, estimated at more than 20.1 million dollars, features dozens of figures in magnificent outdoor settings identified as coming from Chinese history, mythology or literature, as well as a host of exotic animals and birds, each finely detailed in tiny pieces of incised abalone shell.

Other rare pieces on offer will include a cinnabar lacquer eight-lobed dish dating from the late 13th century Song-Yuan period. An example of the intricately scrolled style known as “tixi” lacquer, decorated with a motif resembling the pommel of a Chinese sword, it carries an estimate of about $77,000 to $103,000.

For admirers of royalty, a pair of carved red, green and yellow lacquer stationery chests, dating from the mid-16th century during the Ming dynasty, were formerly in the collection of Princess Alice, the sister of King George VI of Britain. A phoenix design on the chests indicates that they would have been wedding gifts for an important female member of the Chinese Imperial Court, possibly the empress herself, since the phoenix is symbolic of the empress and of yin, the feminine principle.

Mr. Lally said he planned to travel from New York to attend the Hong Kong sale, which, he said, should “certainly draw the attention of collectors and curators from around the world.”

The dispersal of the collection “presents a very rare opportunity to see and acquire some of the finest examples of Chinese lacquer in the world,” he said. “I expect that there will be more attention and participation in this event than we have ever seen before at an auction of Chinese lacquer.”

The Lee Family Collection, which the Dec. 1 sale is dispersing, is considered by experts to hold some of the finest Chinese lacquers from the Song to the Ming dynasties. The sale will be “a very significant event,” James J. Lally, one of the top dealers in Chinese art in New York and a former president of Sotheby’s, said in an e-mail message. “The catalog will include some of the finest and rarest Chinese lacquer remaining outside of museum collections today.”

“The Lee Family Collection has been created by three generations of dedicated and discerning scholar-collectors in Japan who have sought out the best early Chinese lacquer for many years, buying in China, Japan, London, New York or wherever it appeared in auctions or galleries around the world,” Mr. Lally added. “The collection is world-famous because it has been studied, analyzed, exhibited and published many times. Some of the items are the finest of their type in the world, and some of the pieces are virtually unique.”

The highlight of the collection is a rare Yuan dynasty octagonal box with mother-of-pearl inlays, depicting a banquet that the moon goddess, Chang’e, is holding for the immortals. The box, estimated at more than 20.1 million dollars, features dozens of figures in magnificent outdoor settings identified as coming from Chinese history, mythology or literature, as well as a host of exotic animals and birds, each finely detailed in tiny pieces of incised abalone shell.

Other rare pieces on offer will include a cinnabar lacquer eight-lobed dish dating from the late 13th century Song-Yuan period. An example of the intricately scrolled style known as “tixi” lacquer, decorated with a motif resembling the pommel of a Chinese sword, it carries an estimate of about $77,000 to $103,000.

For admirers of royalty, a pair of carved red, green and yellow lacquer stationery chests, dating from the mid-16th century during the Ming dynasty, were formerly in the collection of Princess Alice, the sister of King George VI of Britain. A phoenix design on the chests indicates that they would have been wedding gifts for an important female member of the Chinese Imperial Court, possibly the empress herself, since the phoenix is symbolic of the empress and of yin, the feminine principle.

Mr. Lally said he planned to travel from New York to attend the Hong Kong sale, which, he said, should “certainly draw the attention of collectors and curators from around the world.”

The dispersal of the collection “presents a very rare opportunity to see and acquire some of the finest examples of Chinese lacquer in the world,” he said. “I expect that there will be more attention and participation in this event than we have ever seen before at an auction of Chinese lacquer.”

The Lee Family Collection, which the Dec. 1 sale is dispersing, is considered by experts to hold some of the finest Chinese lacquers from the Song to the Ming dynasties. The sale will be “a very significant event,” James J. Lally, one of the top dealers in Chinese art in New York and a former president of Sotheby’s, said in an e-mail message. “The catalog will include some of the finest and rarest Chinese lacquer remaining outside of museum collections today.”

“The Lee Family Collection has been created by three generations of dedicated and discerning scholar-collectors in Japan who have sought out the best early Chinese lacquer for many years, buying in China, Japan, London, New York or wherever it appeared in auctions or galleries around the world,” Mr. Lally added. “The collection is world-famous because it has been studied, analyzed, exhibited and published many times. Some of the items are the finest of their type in the world, and some of the pieces are virtually unique.”

The highlight of the collection is a rare Yuan dynasty octagonal box with mother-of-pearl inlays, depicting a banquet that the moon goddess, Chang’e, is holding for the immortals. The box, estimated at more than 20.1 million dollars, features dozens of figures in magnificent outdoor settings identified as coming from Chinese history, mythology or literature, as well as a host of exotic animals and birds, each finely detailed in tiny pieces of incised abalone shell.

Other rare pieces on offer will include a cinnabar lacquer eight-lobed dish dating from the late 13th century Song-Yuan period. An example of the intricately scrolled style known as “tixi” lacquer, decorated with a motif resembling the pommel of a Chinese sword, it carries an estimate of about $77,000 to $103,000.

For admirers of royalty, a pair of carved red, green and yellow lacquer stationery chests, dating from the mid-16th century during the Ming dynasty, were formerly in the collection of Princess Alice, the sister of King George VI of Britain. A phoenix design on the chests indicates that they would have been wedding gifts for an important female member of the Chinese Imperial Court, possibly the empress herself, since the phoenix is symbolic of the empress and of yin, the feminine principle.

Mr. Lally said he planned to travel from New York to attend the Hong Kong sale, which, he said, should “certainly draw the attention of collectors and curators from around the world.”

The dispersal of the collection “presents a very rare opportunity to see and acquire some of the finest examples of Chinese lacquer in the world,” he said. “I expect that there will be more attention and participation in this event than we have ever seen before at an auction of Chinese lacquer.”