This is a handmade Chinese lacquer oval tray, finished in black-and-gold rhino skin lacquer (Xipi, 犀皮漆) on a solid wood body, from the Chong Series by HFDlacquerware (禾丰鼎). Long and low at 16.5" × 5.9", it sits easily in a study, holding pens and seals, or catching whatever you reach for every day. In the Chong Series (high relief), the groundwork is built up high before the lacquer goes on, so the pattern rises and falls like terraced fields. Each Chong Series piece takes two to three years to make. No two gold patterns fall the same way, and the surface deepens with handling rather than staying as it arrived. It is the kind of piece you give to someone who already has taste and wants one more thing that matches it. Deep black, struck through with gold that moves as if searching for light in the dark — gold that reads as hope rather than decoration. Also available: see the Oval Tray in Red & Gold.