Lot 19. A blue and white 'dragon' rectangular censer, Wanli six-character mark within double rectangular and of the period (1573-1630), 10.2cm high; 14.3cm across (wood cover). Sold for US$12,800 (Estimate US$6,000-8,000). © Bonhams 2025

The diminutive square-sided vessel raised on inward sloping legs to a waisted neck set off by paired lion-mask lug mosses under a flat rim embellished with a continuous cloud-scroll chain, the body broadly painted in vivid underglaze blue with pairs of wiry dragons contesting flaming pearls, the six-character Wanli mark centered in a double square on the underside.

Provenance: Acquired in Japan before the 1980s, by repute, and thence by descent

Note: This subject matter was a popular motif among vessels and censers of the Wanli period. For a closely related censer, see one sold at Christie's Hong Kong, May 30, 2024, lot 2833, from the Kwong Yee Che Tong Collection, previously exhibited in The Fame of Flame: Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2010, no. 101. See another sold at Sotheby's, New York, March 22, 2022, lot 71.

Bonhams. CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART INCLUDING THE FRANCINE AND BERNARD WALD COLLECTION OF FINE SNUFF BOTTLES, PART I. New York, 17 March 2025