Lot 3188. A superb blue and white ‘dragon’ hexafoil basin, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619), 5 1/6 in. (38.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000 (USD 154,746 - USD 232,119). Price realised HKD 1,500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The basin is robustly potted in hexafoil section with deep rounded sides rising from a flat base to a broad everted rim, finely painted in bright cobalt-blue tones with two confronted, five-clawed dragons leaping amidst flames and clouds in pursuit of a flaming pearl. The lobed sides divided into six panels each with a dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl, the rim repeated with the same subject, decorated to the exterior with the below further lingzhi scroll band around the underside of the rim, the base unglazed with a central circle glazed white and inscribed with the six-character Wanli reign mark in underglaze blue, box. 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired from Shogodo in October 2010

Note: While similar Wanli-marked blue and white lobed basins are known, it is very rare to find one with the current pattern in hexafoil form. Only one other example with this combination appears to have been published, which is from the Chang Foundation and illustrated in Selected Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pl. 104. Other blue and white examples, all in cinquefoil form, include one similarly painted with a descending and ascending dragon to the centre, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 July 2003, lot 651; and two with a single dragon amid floral scrolls to the centre, one from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 18 September 1997, lot 152, the other sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 11th April 2008, lot 2936. For wucai examples from this group, compare to two hexafoil basins decorated with a dragon and phoenix to the centre, one illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 753, the second from the Tokyo National Museum, published in Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great Collections, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1982, col. pl. 77; and a cinquefoil basin with a single dragon from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 1997, lot 89.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall