Lot 1458. A blue and white oblong box and cover, Hongzhi period (1488-1505); 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm.) long. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 8,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2013. 

The box is of compressed form with a flat, unglazed ring at the top beneath a raised lip over which the short, flat cover fits. It is decorated around the sides in rich tones of cobalt blue with characteristic 'heaping and piling' with the bajixiang (Eight Buddhist Emblems) within a scrolling vine between petal borders and above a wave band at the foot. The cover is decorated on top with a leafy chrysanthemum scroll bearing three large blooms, and the sides with a band of diaper pattern.

Note: Similar blue and white boxes and covers, along with Hongzhi-period wares of Eastern shapes, such as pen boxes, kendis and ewers, were discovered in the Lena Shoal wreck, a Chinese junk of unknown destination that sunk off the coast of the Philippines around 1490. A similar example is illustrated in Yuan and Ming Blue and White Ware from Jiangxi, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 69.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 21 - 22 March 2013