Lot 5054. A superbly carved celadon-glazed 'lotus' box and cover, Korea, Koryo dynasty (935-1392); 9 cm, 3 1/2  in. Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 HKD. Sold for 375,000 HKD (44,370 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the top of the cover delicately carved with subtle steps of overlapping layers of petals radiating from a central bloom, each petal intricately combed with fine incisions, all above straight sides detailed with a geometric band repeated on the straight sides of the box, all resting on a tapered foot encircling three delicate 'sesame-seed' spur marks on the base, covered evenly overall save for the unglazed rims with a soft sea-green colour pooling in recesses and accentuating the contours.

Sotheby's. EYE/EAST, Hong Kong, 22 May 2020

NDB: Many thanks to The Honorable Joseph P Carroll, KM, Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres for his comments: 

"This lot is part of a small group of highly sophisticated fake Koryo ceramics which recently appeared on the European (Belgium and Holland) and Taiwan auction markets. This celadon cosmetic box was sold as lot 27 on July 28, 2018 by Oriental Art Auctions, Hattem, The Netherlands, one of a large group sold on 28 July 2018 and 5 October 2018 represented as being from the collection of Ambassador Hans Van Gulik, a former Netherland's Ambassador to Japan and Korea and an internationally known art expert and author.

I purchased the above cosmetic box in the above sale; had a TL test performed by Oxford Authentication LTD, Oxford which demonstrated it to be "less than 100 years old" (attachment below); and was able to return this piece and rescind the sale.

Unfortunately, several of these lots have reappeared on the international market."