Lot 137. The Leshantang Collection. A rare wucai 'figural' square zun-form vase, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 12.3 cm. Lot Sold 1,270,000 HKD (Estimate 400,000 - 600,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2023

the mid-section decorated with four panels, each enclosing a scholar under a pine tree, flanked by lotus scrolls at the canted corners, between lingzhi sprigs on the angled shoulder and a keyfret band encircling the spreading foot, the flaring neck painted on each facet with a five-clawed dragon pursuing a flaming pearl amidst clouds, with additional lingzhi sprigs to the inside, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double square.

Provenance: Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-1980).
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1981, lot 434.

Literature: Zhongguo mingtao Riben xunhui zhan. Gangtai mingjia shoucang taoci jingpin [Exhibition of famous Chinese ceramics touring Japan. Fine ceramics from private Hong Kong and Taiwanese Collections], Museum of History, Taipei, 1992, p. 159.
The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 23.

Exhibited: Chūgoku meitō ten: Chūgoku tōji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of important Chinese ceramics: Essence of two thousand years of Chinese ceramics], Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, and six other locations in Japan, 1992, cat. no. 97.

Note: This rare vase belongs to a small group of Wanli vases in the shape of archaic bronze square zun, with only a handful of examples appearing to have survived: one in the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 740; another sold in our London rooms, 11th July 1966, lot 205, subsequently entered the collection of Dr Wou Kiuan, and sold again in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2022, lot 73; and lastly, a slightly taller example sold in our London rooms, 16th May 2018, lot 138.

Compare also a closely related example from the collection of Tsui Art Foundation, painted with dragons and phoenix on the neck and lingzhi sprigs on the bevelled corners instead, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1778, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 1991.

Blue-and-white versions of this type were also produced, again with very few surviving examples; see one from a Parisian private collection and sold in these rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 111.