The compressed body is decorated above each leg with a panel containing a central winged figure beneath an inscription reading Da Ming Jiajing bingwu nian Dunrentang jing zhu (Respectfully commissioned by The Hall of Sincere Benevolence in the bingwu year [1546] of Jiajing of the great Ming), all below a floral band on the waisted mid-section and another inscription below the rim, Guanyin dashi zuo qian (Before the throne of Guanyin bodhisattva), cloth box.

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 22 November 1982.
The Lenora and Walter F. Brown Collection, San Antonio, Texas.

Note: A blue and white censer of comparable size, decorated with the same motif and of similar form, but with a Ming Wanli bingxu nian Endetang jingzhu (Respectfully commissioned by the Endetang in the bingxu year (1586) of Wanli) mark, was sold at Sotheby’s New York, 13 September 2017, lot 63.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 25 September 2020