Lot 138. A rare wucai Gu-shaped vase, Wanli mark and period (1573-1620); 13.8 cm, 5 1/2  in. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 GBP. Lot Sold 50,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's 2018.

of square section, supported on a splayed foot rising to a bulging mid-section below a broad everted rim, the exterior painted with square panels each enclosing a scholar beneath a tree, divided on the canted corners by sprays of lotus and between lingzhi sprays, the neck with a striding five-clawed dragon chasing a 'flaming pearl' amidst scrolling clouds and flame scrolls, all above a key-fret band at the base, the interior with sprays of lingzhi crowned by trefoil leaves, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within double squares.

Note: Avase of this type, in the Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, is illustrated in Tôji taikei, vol. 43, Tokyo, 1960, pl. 85; a fractionally smaller example, painted with sinuously writhing dragon and phoenix on the neck, from the Tsui Art Foundation, illustrated in  Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 928, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10thApril 2006, lot 1778 and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 1991; and a third example, from the Edward T. Chow collection was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 434, and later included in The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 23.

A rare Ming wucai square zun-form vase, Wanli six-character mark within double-squares and of the period (1573-1619); 5 in. (12.7 cm.) high. Sold for 1,460,000 HKD at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 1991. © Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Cf. my post: A rare Ming wucai square zun-form vase, Wanli six-character mark within double-squares and of the period (1573-1619)