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2 décembre 2017

A wucai ‘dragon’ octagonal box and a cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period

A wucai ‘dragon’ octagonal box and a cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619)

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Lot 3004. wucai ‘dragon’ octagonal box and a cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619); 5 3/4 in. (14.5 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 500,000Price realised HKD 1,750,000© Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Each rectangular vertical panel of this box is boldly decorated in various enamels with a striding dragon chasing the flaming pearl amongst ruyi-shaped cloud scrolls. The flat cover is surmounted by a finial shaped as a crouching squirrel and the surface is decorated with two confronting dragons amongst further ruyi-shaped clouds all enclosed within a keyfret border, Japanese paulownia wood box. 

ProvenanceHirano Kotoken, circa 1970s
A Japanese private collection

Note: Wucai octagonal jars of this design appear to be rather rare, with the exception of an almost identical jar and cover in the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Dr. Francis W. Lewis Collection, accession no. 1905-202,a, the only difference being that the finial of the current lot remains intact.

Several examples of Wanli mark and period square, hexagonal, and fan-shaped boxes have been published, as well as those with lobed rather than flat facets. For a hexagonal example, see the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book III, Hong Kong, 1989, pls. 6-6c (fig. 1), and one sold at Christie’s New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 821 (fig. 2). A lobed hexagonal box attributed as a cricket box is found in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 35, no. 32; and in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Ming-Ching, Chicago, 1964. A pair of blue and white fan-shaped ‘dragon’ box and covers from the Edward T. Chow Collection were sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 14. A lobed pentafoil box without a finial on the cover also decorated with dragons is found in the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum, illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum: The Chinaware Volume - The First Part, Shenyang, 2008, pp. 154-155.

A wucai ‘dragon’ hexagonal box and a cover, Wanli mark and period, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

fig. 1 wucai ‘dragon’ hexagonal box and a cover, Wanli mark and period, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

A wucai hexagonal ‘dragon’ box and a cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619)

fig. 2 wucai hexagonal ‘dragon’ box and a cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619). Sold for USD 87,500 at Christie’s New York, 18-19 September 2014, lot 821© Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Cf. my post: A wucai hexagonal'dragon' box, Wanli six-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619)

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 29 November 2017, Hong Kong

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