A rare small soft-paste porcelain relief-decorated box and cover. Early-Mid-19th century.  Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2012

Of rounded square cushion form, applied with a finely modeled blossoming prunus branch that rises from the foot and continues up the sides onto the cover, with a four-character maker's mark, Chen Guozhi zhi(made by Chen Guozhi), in relief on the base, covered overall with a creamy glaze suffused with crackle; 1¾ in. (4.5 cm.) across, fitted box. Estimate $12,000 - $15,000

清十九世紀 白釉凸雕梅紋小蓋盒

Provenance: Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London.

Literature: In Scholar's Taste, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1983, pp. 160-1, no. 103. 

Notes: Chen Guozhi was one of the finest of a small group of independent ceramicists, that included Wang Bingrong and Li Youcheng, working in Jingdezhen in the early-mid 19th century who signed their important pieces.

A biscuit porcelain inkstone with the mark, Daqing Chen Guozhi zhi in seal characters in relief, also from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, was sold in these rooms, 25 March 2010, lot 915. A very similar inkstone that has the relief decoration covered in polychrome glazes and has a four-character mark, Chen Guozhi zuo, is illustrated in Enlightening Pursuits: Scholar's Objects from the Mengdiexuan Collection, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2006, no. 31.

See, also, the turquoise-glazed relief-decorated biscuit porcelain brush pot bearing the mark, Daqing Daoguang Chen Guozhi zao, illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pp. 236-7, no. 340. 

Christie's. Auspicious Treasures for Scholars and Emperors: Selections from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection , 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Plaza