Lot 658. A blue and white square cover, Ming Dynasty, 15th century. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

well crafted with the shoulder gracefully curving to a square dome topped with an onion-shaped finial, painted in inky cobalt tones with curling vines issuing from the corners and sides of the shoulder and from the base of the finial, the finial painted blue with vertical white lines in reserve, all above a tapering base of circular form. Width 3 in., 7.6 cm

Note: A cover of this form would have been used on a small square jar, such as the one in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum illustrated in William Bowyer Honey, The Ceramic Art of China and Other Countries of the Far East, London, 1945, pl. 93a. A jar of the same shape dating to the Yongle / Xuande period was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 275.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM