Lot 3190. A rare large wucai dish with lanterns and officials, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619), 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000 (USD 51,582 - USD 77,373). Unsold. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The dish, with the scene of Chinese lantern festival, is painted in the interior with a hanging banner at the centre surrounded by three lanterns and two attendants. The well with a band of lotus flowers and scrolling foliage. The underside is further decorated with ribbon-tiedruyi, coin, ingot and lonzenge, alternating with lanterns.

Note: Compare to a similar dish from the collection of Beijing Palace Museum, is illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan wenwu zhenpin daxi: wucai, doucai, Hong Kong: The Commercial Press, 1999, p.52, pl.48. See also another dish of this pattern illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 850.

Compare to a further Wanli-marked wucai dish of similar size but with a dragon design, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 3667.

A wucai 'dragon' dish, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619), 33.6 cm, 13 1/4  in.. Sold 1,000,000 HKD at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 3667. Photo: Sotheby's.

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