Lot 161. Grande boîte couverte en porcelaine bleu blanc, Chine, dynastie Ming,  XVIème-XVIIème siècle. Estimation €25,000 – €35,000 ($28,212 - $39,497). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The centre of the cover is decorated with an openwork coin, surrounded by roundels of Buddhist lions amidst cruciform clouds. The box is finely painted with stylized lotus and foliage. The base has a four-character fugui jiaqimark ('fine vessel for the rich and honorable') within a square in underglaze blue; firing cracks. 11 3/8 in. (29 cm.) diam.

Provenance: From the collection of the Swedish painter Professor Oscar Björck (1860–1929).
Collection of a French private collector.

Literature: Nationalmusei uställningskataloger n:r 26, Utställning av Äldre Kinesiskt Konsthantverk ur Svenska Samlingar,Katalogen är utarbetad av Erik Wettergren och Ake Stavenow, Stockholm, 1928, No. 339.

Exhibited: National Museum Stockholm, Utställning av Äldre Kinesiskt Konsthantverk ur Svenska Samlingar, Stockholm, 1928, No. 339.

A BLUE AND WHITE 'BUDDHIST LION' BOX AND COVER, CHINA, MING DYNASTY, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

Note: Professor Oscar Björck was born and educated in Sweden, he spent much of his life in the artist colony in Skagen, Denmark, as well as Paris, Munich and Italy. His works can be seen in the collection of the Copenhagen Art Museum and the National Museum of Stockholm. 

Christie's. ART D'ASIE, 21 - 22 June 2016, Paris