A wucai sweetmeat box, Wanli six-character mark and of the period

Comprising six mallow-shaped compartments painted around the rim with a narrow blue band, the exterior walls decorated with five cartouches enclosing pairs of birds perched on flowering branches or in flight, all reserved on an iron-red and green enamelled floral honeycomb ground. 18.5cm (7¼in) diam. Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000. Unsold

Provenance: the Fayerman Collection, Pennsylvania

Note: The shape of the present box is characteristic of wucai sweetmeat boxes and covers produced during the Wanli period; for a related box and cover decorated with dragons and phoenix see Idemitsu Museum Collection: Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1987, Catalogue no.752.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 14 May 2009. New Bond Street www.bonhams.com