Lot 240. A wucai fan-shaped 'dragon and phoenix' box and cover, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619). Length 3⅝ in., 9.3 cm. Unsold (Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 USD). © Sotheby's 2022

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a scallop-edged rectangular cartouche (2).

Provenance: Eskenazi Ltd., London.
Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

Note:Two related boxes and covers were sold in our London rooms, the first, 11th July 1978, lot 192, and the second, 9th June 2004, lot 187; one lacking the cover, from the collections of S.H. Evans and Roger Pilkington, was sold in these rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 50; and a further box of this form painted with confronting dragons in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 11:152.

This design is also known painted entirely in underglaze blue; compare for example a Wanli mark and period box, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 174; and a pair from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 14.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 september 2022