A Blue and White Meiping and Cover and an Unusual Blue And White Oval Box and Fitted Tray. Ming Dynasty, 15th-16th Century. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

The body of the meiping is decorated with a wide band of lotus scroll between a ruyi band above and a band of stiff leaves below, as well as other decorative bands. The sides of the cover are decorated with a band of inverted leaves, and the flat top is decorated with a ruyi band below the bud-form knob. The oval vessel has tapering bulbous sides decorated with peony scroll between petal lappets borders and has an unglazed band at the top. The interior of the tray is painted with a flowering stem below detached clouds. Meiping 10½ in. (26.7 cm.) high; box and cover 7½ in. (19.1 cm.) long, stand (2) - Estimate $12,000 - $18,000

明十五/十六世紀 青花纏枝蓮紋梅瓶、青花纏枝蓮紋橢圓盒連隨形托盤各一

Notes: Similar blue and white oval vessels, along with Hongzhi-period wares based on Near Eastern prototypes such as pen boxes, kendis and ewers, were discovered in the Lena Shoal wreck, a Chinese junk of unknown destination that sunk off the coast of the Philippines around 1490. An example of one of these vesssels is illustrated in Yuan and Ming Blue and White Ware from Jiangxi, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 69. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part II, 13 September 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza