The domed cover finely painted in rich tones of cobalt blue on a raised central medallion enclosing a stag and a deer grazing at the foreground of a fenced terrace, in front of two monkeys clambering on a leafy peach tree poking and reaching out to a hanging honeycomb with a sprig, approached by a pair of birds in flight, all encircled by four foliate cartouches each enclosing a perched bird on flowering spray reserved on a diaper ground, bordered with a key-fret band to the rim, the exterior of the box decorated with six horses galloping amongst billowing and scrolling clouds above crested waves, Japanese wood box22.6cm (8 7/8in) diam. (3)..

ProvenanceTakayanagi Collection, Japan

NotesThe central circular panel of the lid is painted with deer, monkeys, bees and magpies. The Chinese for deer (lu 鹿), magpie (que 鵲), monkey (hou 猴) and bee (feng 蜂) form the rebus, 'jue lu feng hou' which may be translated as 'may you receive high rank and emolument'.

Compare with a related circular blue and white box, Jiajing mark and period and painted with cranes, illustrated in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2002, p.119, no.109. Though the decoration on the lid of the current lot differs from the decoration of horses on the base, the identical key-fret borders on both the box and cover, as well as their colour, would indicate that the box and cover were designed and made to fit together. See for example Enlightening Elegance: Imperial Porcelain of the Mid to Late Ming, The Huaihaitang Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, nos.107, 108, illustrating circular boxes and covers with differently decorated borders, and matching key-fret border respectively.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART,  14 May 2015 10:00 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET