A fine Ming wucai 'Dragon and Phoenix' pen-tray, Wanli six-character mark within a rectangle and of the period (1573-1619)

26 novembre 2019

A fine Ming wucai 'Dragon and Phoenix' pen-tray, Wanli six-character mark within a rectangle and of the period (1573-1619)

Lot 611. A fine Ming wucai 'Dragon and Phoenix' pen-tray, Wanli six-character mark within a rectangle and of the period (1573-1619); 12 1/4 in. (31.2 cm.) long. Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 700,000. Price realised HKD 815,000. © Christie's Image Ltd

The pen-tray is strongly potted with low flaring sides, the interior divided by a mountain-shaped pen rest, and boldly painted in the larger compartment with a phoenix and a dragon in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' above waves crashing against a rock, the smaller compartment with a full-faced dragon among clouds, the interior and exterior sides with further dragons and phoenix amidst multi-hued cloud clusters, and the reign mark inscribed in a column on the base.

Note: Comparable pen-trays with the combined dragon and phoenix design are published, one illustrated by A. du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, and sold in these Rooms, the Christina Loke Balsara Collection, 19 January 1988, lot 265; one illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, no. 710; and another sold in our London Rooms, 13 December 1982, lot 478.

An example with a fitted domed cover, with the same design, is in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, and was included in the Museum's 1995 exhibition Imperial Overglaze-Enamelled Wares in the Late Ming Dynasty, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 42. Compare also the blue and white brush tray where the interiors are painted with very similar dragons and phoenix, exhibited at the Asia Society Galleries, The Chinese Scholar's Studio, An Exhibition from the Shanghai Museum, 1987, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 41.

There are also other wucai pen-trays of the same style but moulded with two dragons on the interior. Examples include one from the Robert Chang Collection, sold in these Rooms, 31 October 2000, lot 828; its companion pen-tray included in the exhibition, Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 42; one in the Percival David Foundation exhibited in Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 22; and another from the Hirota Collection, now in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha series, 1982, vol. 1, pl. 76.